FASDIU Il a sequel to the from a shuffled deck in use lecture notes By Paul W. Cummins Edited by: Published by: Randy Campbell FASDIU Enterprises Jason England 3703 Foxcroft Road Jacksonville, FL Photography by: 32257 USA Cynthia H. Carroll www fasdiu.com 904-260-9943 Second Revision, July 20", 2002Also by Paul W. Cummins from a shuffled deck in use... (lecture notes) Tricks of my Trade, The Magic of Doug Conn FUSILLADE (with Doc Eason) Up In Smoke, The Underhanded Coin Magic of Paul Cummins (video) Acknowledgements Abig thank-you to Jason England and Randy Campbell for lending their time and expertise while editing this mss. Tomas Blomberg, Doug Conn, Matthew Field, and Jeff Haas are also responsible for pointing out typos that gener- ated this revision of the notes. Any errors, typos, or screwy text that remain are my sole responsibility! Thanks also to Cindy Carroll for her patience and professionalism while taking all the photos. And finally a thank-you to all the folks who so generously helped me to find proper credits and references: John Bannon, Randy DiMarco, Peter Duffie, David Michael Evans, Wes James, David Jones, Roger Klause, Jim Maloney, Ryan Matney, Pete McCabe, Reinhard Mueller, Philippe Noel, Earle Oakes, George Olsen, John Pezzullo, David Solomon, and Joe Tuer. © Copyright 2002 by Paul W. Cummins. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means now known or to be created, developed, shaped, bent, fashioned, twisted, formed, or produced without prior written permission of the author. Yeah, rightContent Introduction For the Laity ALa Annemann. seee piaiyearnge pieces eoszateesen Stumped! .......... ALa Tullock... A Total Triumph Beating the Heat AACAAAN1 Movin’ On Up... Box Topper ...... Just In Case No Joke No Mercy For the Magi Red Herring Location... AACAAANZ .. Choice .. Triumph ‘93 O.Henry Ace Assembly Overtwist Transposed Trick Shell....... cases 107 17 eS) Concluding Remarks - 129Introduction Some of you may be familiar with the acronym, FASDIU. For those who are not, it stands for “from a shuffled deck in use,” the title of my first set of lecture notes (1996). Those notes contained 26 card items and 6 coin items. All of the card items, save one ("Bar None”) were performable with a shuffled deck in use ~ anytime, anywhere. And thus the title. Thankfully, the notes were very well received; certainly none of the routines were pipe dreams, as I'd been performing all of them for ten oF fifteen years, and | still do so with regularity. The routines found in this set of notes vary with tespect to the amount of time that I've been performing them. “A La Annemann” has been in my repertoire for about 20 years, while the *O.Henry Ace Assembly’ is only about a year old. Suffice to say that | perform all of these routines now as well, albeit some more often for the laity while others { reserve for magicians Thus the two sections to this volume. In the For the Laity section, you'll find some routines that have been developed and honed over the bar at a local Jacksonville (Florida) restaurant where I've been doing bar magic when Tm in town. Specifically, “Just in Case," “Box Topper,” “Movin' On Up," and “Stumped!” were all developed doing bar magic, however, | use them under almost any circumstances. “A La Annemann,” “A La Tullock,” and “AACAAAN'” have been in my performing repertoire for many, many years. “Beating the Heat" and Steve Reynolds’ wonderful presentation for “Tri- ‘mph (which | have dubbed “A Total Triumph”) are routines | use for performances in which the spectators are less likely to be “liquor-encouraged.” “No Joke" is the newest routine in the notes. It is an impromptu version of Chad Long's “Talk to the Hand’ from his second video, The New Chad Long Video (2002). in just months this has become a favorite routine, one | perform constantly under almost any circumstances. Finally, “No Mercy” is 2 devastating routine of Chad's that | have adapted slightly to my own style. I'm very fortunate that Chad has allowed me to describe this routine - and 1 think you'll feel fortunate too! In the For the Magi section, you'll find seven routines that I usually reserve for performance in front of fellow magicians. These routines are a bit more esoteric with regard to method and usually there are simpler, more straightforward methods available to get the same effect for a lay crowd. These are the routines | pull out during the 3 a.m. lobby sessions at magic conven- tions, so, of course, they hold a special place in my heart Finally, I've included “Trick Shell,” the lone coin routine in the notes, I've been performing this routine for magicians for about 5 years now, and | suppose | should have included it on the Up In Smoke video, but the routines therein were all layperson routines and since this one is strictly for magicians, I left it off. The description of "Trick Shell" will be necessarily brief, as it employs rather intricate sleight-of-hand — but those familiar with the techniques an the Up In Smoke video will have little trouble adding it to their repertoire.Most of the material in the manuscript is unpublished; five of the eighteen routines have previously seen print. On the next page I've included @ box showing where the published Toutines may be found, which, as you'll see, are varied and not necessarily easily obtainable sources. | sincerely hope that | do not raise the ire of those who may have already seen a few of the routines in those sources and that the other thirteen previously unpublished routines herein still provide value-added worth to them. If not, I have always had, and will stil stand by, a 100% money-back return policy. | have used gender-specific pronouns in the manuscript. Magicians are referred to as males and non-magicians are referred to as females. This is not an attempt to be sexist or judgmen- tal; itis merely an attempt to provide ease of reading. As | wrote in the introduction(s) to the original FASDIU notes, | sincerely hope that you are able to adapt and use these routines in your own work, Finally, if you have any comments, good or bad, or if you'd like to get together when you are in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Florida please contact me in any of the following ways: Paul W. Cummins 3703 Foxcroft Road Jacksonville, FL 32257 USA 904-260-9943 pcummins@fasdiu.com wwnw.fasdiu.com Thanks for purchasing the notes, | sure hope you enjoy them! Paul W. Cummins March 4", 2002“Stumped” was published on Joe Stevens’ GeMfiNi BBS in February, 2001. Sadly GeMINiis now defunct. The routine was also published in Jose Muniz’ excellent e-magazine EGO, Volume 1, Issue 7, page 9, December, 2001 “Beating the Heat” was 2iso published on the GeMiNI BBS (May, 1999): on ‘The Second Deal web site (wmw.theseconddeal.com) ion May 26th, 1999, and in a small booklet that | provide at lectures called Souvenir (2000). “Red Herring Location’ is also in Souvenir, and was published on GeMiNi BBS (May, 1998) “Triumph ‘93° was published in Ken Simmons’ ONYX magazine (Issue Nine Page 24, 1999), now also sadly defunct, | “Overtwist Transposed” was published in John Luka’s book, (./.N.T. Pocket Stuff for Close-up Magicians L&l. Publishing, 1997, page 124For the Laity... FASDIU Ii ea Ee |e TT ERENT] HeRPe EL || eee TT Se Pea 1 tM Ta 1 TY TT | et |Despite the fact that | have divided the material in these Notes into two sections (magic for the laity vs. magic for magicians), there is some overlap. While | usually perfoarn the routines in this section for the laity, | certainly perform some of them for magicians fairly frequently as well. Spe- cifically, “Stumped!,” “A Total Triumph,” “Beating the Heat,” "No Joke," and "No Mercy” are crossover routines that | perform for both the laity and for magicians.—_—— eee ee =— Soar cer A L This is frequently my opening quick trick a when { want to establish for my audience that they are about to see something a bit A NNESMA’NN _ J 270% wooting ana aavencedthan Uncie Joe's three-piles-of-seven card trick. This one is quite visuai as a single card changes four times in the space of about six seconds. Effect ‘The spectator notes a card and returns i to the middle of the deck. The performer displays the top card (assume it is the ace of spades) and asks the spectator to stide the ace partiatly into the deck at the approximate location of her selection. The spectator does so, marking her best guess. Upon turning over the deck, the card that the spectator inserted into the deck is now the selection instead of the ace of spades (change #1). The performer removes the selection (assume itis the four of hearts) and asks the spectator what her card looked like when she first chose it. The spectator responds, “four of hearts,” where- upon the performer turns the card face up, saying, ‘actually il was the ace of spades,” and displays the ace of spades again (change #2). “Remember,” the performer states, “that when you put the ace into the deck was when it changed to the four of hearts. The performer places the ace of spades into the outer end of the deck, leaving it outjogged, and turns the deck and the protruding card over — the protruding card is the four of hearts again (change #3). “And then when we removed the four, that’s when it looked like the ace!" Removing the selection from the front of the deck, itis again displayed as the ace of spades (change #4). Method and Presentation Taking a shuffied deck in use, have a spectator remove a selection and show it to the ‘company. Spread the deck between your hands and have the card returned, Control it to the top of the deck with an immoveable control, ie., one in which no apparent activity takes place at all. | use a personalized version of Ed Marlo's Deliberate Steal. A classic FASDIU H Page 1For the Laity shift works just as well —just don't use a control that apparently moves any of the cards. After the side steal or shift, execute a drag fan and point out the approximate apparent position of the selection based on where the spectator had inserted it into the spread deck Just a moment earlier. As you perform these actions, say, “Since your card is about there va” Square the deck. Execute a double ift as you complete the above patter line, *... weil use the top card, the ace of spades.” Turn the double face down and fake the top card into your right fingers. Slide the card into the outer left comer of the deck as you explain that the spectator should shove the card into the deck at the position they think their card occupies, “Take the ace and sfide it into the deck about where you think your card is; just take a shot at it.” See Photo One. Itis important to say, “just take a shot att,” for if you do not, the spectator will usually resist your request, denying that they can judge the depth of the card in the deck. By adding that clause to the patter line, the spectator will un- derstand that you do not expect them to locate their selection, just to stick the card into the area of the deck where they think their card is positioned. Also, the spectator may sometimes have trouble sliding the card into the deck. I've found that if | move the deck back and forth just a bit as the edge of the card meets the photo one comer of the deck, that the card will slip in more easily. Hold the deck lightly. By the way, the spectator sometimes wants to shove the card completely into the deck, which you may avoid by bringing your left hand toward you and softly saying, “that's good, that's good.” The crotch of your thumb and the position of your left forefinger at the outer short edge of the deck will also prevent the spectator from shoving the card completely into the deck, see Photo Two. The First Change Say, “You think it's that deep/shallow?" Whatever their answer, tum your left hand palm down to display the selection sticking out of the deck instead of the ace of spades. This is FASDIU It Page 2—s 4 For the Laity the first change and will really stun the spectator, for they know that they were just holding that card and by holding it their conviction that itis the ace of spades is very strong. They will react and look at one an- other and at your face. In fact they'll usually think the routine is over at this point. Their reaction and the assumption that the routine is over combine to give you perfect misdirection for the top change that you are about to execute. With your left hand stilt palm down, grasp the ex- photo two posed non-index corner of the protruding card (the selection) with your right fingers on the face, thumb: on the back. Remove the card and turn both hands over (left hand turning palm up, tight hand turning palm down). Your right hand should be above and just in front of your left. As you execute a top change (exchanging the selection for the ace of spades), move your left hand toward the spectator and freeze your right hand in front of you. Your left-hand ges- ture is accompanied by the following patter line, “When you first looked at the four of hearts, what did it look ike?” Slowly lower your left hand as the spectator contemplates your question. This serves to focus attention on the card in your right hand. Remember, when properly performed and with motivated gestures (when “you" first looked at it, as your left hand gestures toward the spectator) the deck and the card should not seem to come together. ‘The majority of your spectators will answer the question by saying, “Whaddya mean? It looked like the four of hearts.” Very few will not know how to answer the question at all, and even fewer will say, “it looked like the ace of spades." The Second Change ‘Usually, then, you will say, “Actually it looked like the ace of spades,” and turn the card in your tight hand face up. This is, of course, the second change and given that the top change was properly executed, the spectators wil have been convinced that the card in hand was the selection, the four of hearts. As you turn the ace of spades face up, by the way, use that misdirection to establish a pinky break below the top card of the deck. FASDIU It Page 3For the Laity Ifthe spectator does not know how to answer your question they'll almost always indicate that they are confused. Simply repeat the question, ‘Well, when you first looked at the four, what did it look like?” Someone who is watching, if not the spectator herself, will say it looked like the four of hearts, at which time you display it to be the ace of spades as described above, If the spectator answers your question by saying, “it ooked Ike the ace of spades,” you reply, “exactly!” and tum the right-hand card face up. In any case, proceed briskly here by flipping the ace of spades face down onto the deck and moving the double card (the reason for the previously established break below the top card} forward until your right fingers can re-grasp the double by its outer, short edge. See Photo Three. Riffle about haif of the deck off your left thumb and insert the double card into the break that has been formed. Square the long sides of the double card with the deck proper, leaving the double outjogged from the front of the deck for about an inch. See Photo Four, The patter for these movements is a continuation of the previous sentence, “... and then you stuck it into the deck it looked like the four of hearts ...” photo four photo three The Third Change As you finish the above patter line, turn your left hand palm down again to dispfay the face of the protruding double card. itis the four of hearts, in accordance with your patter (and with what happened earlier). This third change, coming on the heels of the first two, is also pretty powerful. ! give the protruding double card a pretty strong snap with my right fingers atthis point, ostensibly emphasizing thatit is a single card. This snap also gives reason for FASDIU tf Page 4For the Laity my right fingers to be hovering over the card at this moment, in preparation for a push-in change. The Fourth Change ‘Turn your left hand palm up and grip the protruding double card at its outer short end with your right fingers on the face and thumb against its back. Use your fingers to push the selected card, at the face of the double, toward the deck as you pull the ace of spades forward, removing it from the deck. You'll need to use your left forefinger to square the hidden card (the selection) completely into the deck. Revolve the ace of spades face up, ‘end for end, onto the deck to expose the final change as you complete the patter line, “ and then when we took it out of the deck — that's when it looked fike the ace of spades again.” After the fourth change, you are clean. The ace of spades is a single card atop the deck where it started and the selection is in the middle of the deck where the spectator appar- ently placed it at the beginning of the routine, You have managed to perform four changes in the space of 6 to 10 seconds (depending on how tong it takes the spectator to answer your question). This is not to say that you should hurry the changes, just adapt your hand movernents to match the speed of your patter. It's a strong opener. References, Credits, and Remarks © Secretly switching a displayed card for a spectator’s selection and handing ito them was apparently first published by Ted Annemann in The Jinx, Number 80, undated though thought to be 1840, on ‘page 522 ina routine tied, “Change in Hand”. See also, Roberto Giobbi's Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press, 1995, page 123 for*A Card In Hand! e ‘My first exposure to the term “immovable” control or shift was in Ed Marlo’s e'eventh chapter of his Revolutionary Card Technique series, The Mutible Shift, 1S61, page 42. e Ed Mario's Deliberate Side Steal may be found in chapter four of his Revolutionary Card Technique seties, The Side Stea!, 1957, page 5. © The Classic Shift (or Pass) is explained throughout the literature, See Card Collage, Volume 2, by Roberto Giobbi, Hermetic Press, Inc., 1996, Chapter 12 (specifically pages 297 - 299). e ‘The Drag (or, Finger} Fan is described by Mr. Gicbbi as well. See Card Coffge, Volume 7, Giobbi, Hermetc Press, Inc., 4995, page 179 for an article tited “The Two-Handed Fan”. FASDIU Ht Page §For the Laity ‘The Double Lift is also a staple of card magic and described in a myriad of sources. See Giobbi’s Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press, page 129 for a simple version. | use the Stuart Gordon and Hit Double lifts almost exclusively. The best description of the Stuart Gordon Double Lift that I've found is in Darwin Ortiz’s wonderful book, Cardshark, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1995, page 106. For descriptions of the Hit Double Lift see Ed Marlo's Cardician, Ireland Magic Company, 1953, page 52 andor Stars of Magic, Louis Tannen, Inc., 1961, Series 7, Number 2, “The linerant Pasteboards,” for Doc Daley's instantaneous Double Lift, page 108. A fine description of the Top Change may be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card Collage, Volume 1, Hermetic Press, Inc., 1995, page 233. The Push4n Change may be foundin Giobbi's Card College, Volume 4, Hermetic Press, 2000, page 820 Having performed this exact routine for over twenty-odd years | would like (o point out a potential problem that may occur, Every now and then the spectator wil look at the card you hand them to thrust into the pack or accidentally fash itto another audience member. When | hand the card to the spectator | immediately position the outer left comer of the deck about an inch from the card they hold. This usually prevents them from swinging the card around in such a way that it may be gimpsed by another spectator - leave them no option but to insert the card into the deck. If another spectator does see the face of the card, however, and notes that itis now the selection, you can usually quiet {trein with a hoki-on-and-you'l-see-whal-heppens took. I the spectator herself looks at the card and notices thal it is now their selection, which is rare, just exclaim, ‘Wow, you're fest! Howd you do that?” Retrieve the card white your spectator answers and execute a top change. Ask the spectator what the card frstlooked like and display the card now in hand. Move quickly to;another routine! As | seid, this rarely happens if you manage your spectator properly. FASDIU if Page 6St di After | left AT&T back in 1998 fo pursue a um, pe ' career writing books for magicians and do- ing some corporate performing, | spent the next few years working most of my magic for magicians at lectures and convention ap- pearances. Although the writing and pub- ishing was proceeding nicely, | wanted fo pertorm for layman more often. As a result | took @ job @ couple of nights @ week doing bar magic at a local restaurant, here in Jack- sonville, when | was in fown. Though | hadn't tended bar in 15 years, both the drink recipes and the jazz-fusion thrill of doing bar magic came back to me quite quickly. {took the early nights in the week when the place isn't pecked fo the gills — 1 wanted time to “work” the customers, get fo know them, and, most importantly, to allow for a bit of magic. Some bar magicians, notably the great Doc Eason, do an actual show, or set, wherein the entire bar is focused on the magical performance, which may last 15 minutes ora half an hour. My preference is to work a few patrons at a time and let their reactions create more interest from other patrons. Then | move around a bit fo the others, and usually culminate with a muttipfe selection routine involving everyone. It's great fun. The wonderful benefit of this performing situation is that the opportunity presents itself to work out, and work on, new routines. During the course of that adventure, I've created and honed a couple of routines that have become real workers for me. This one is a straightforward triple card revelation that is simply leaves people looking at me with that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of incredulity. The routine is sort of stark in effect and was designed in that very fashion for maximum impact in the littlest amount of time. Only one real sleight is necessary, a side steat (al- though | will offer two altematives); and the routine includes two glimpses that are well misdirected and that are actually the backbone of the method. FASDIU I Page 7For the Laity Effect Three spectators quickly peek at cards from a shuffled deck in use. The performer simply tables the deck and immediately reveals the names of each spectator's selection. As Paul LePaul said, “Simplicity is the keynote to magic," and this effect is simple but hits ‘em hard. Method and Presentation You'll need three spectators (- and a shuffled deck in use), Since Il be referring to them frequently, I'l use the following key names so you know which spectator is sitting where: Linda is sitting to your Left, Cindy is sitting Centered in front of you, and Rhonda is sitting to your Right. Each card is selected using the standard spectator peek. Explain to Linda that you'd like her to use her left thumb (“... which is way af the end of your left arm ...”}to push back part of the deck and peek at a card. Demonstrate this action with your own right fingers as you explain what she is to do. Turn your head and have Linda take her peek. mediately lower the deck (“... you got one already? Hmmm, I couldn't even fee! it..." and bring your right hand over it. Say, “The reason | have you look at a card that way is that | cannot see the front of the card because it faces you; and I can't see the back of the card because of aif the ones on top of it. So even if the cards were marked it would be of no use to me. Not to mention, {tumed my head away.” During this patter, bring your sight hand over the deck, gripping its ends, and push the spectator’s selection out of the right long side of the deck for about a quarter-inch with your left fingers. The back of your right hand covers the jogged card. Continue your ex- planatory patter, “So, although | may have a guess about how far down in the deck your cardis, could not have actually seen either side of it.” During this sentence pick the deck up with your right hand and cock your wrist, bringing the inner, thumb-held end of the deck skyward and the outer, fingers-held end of the deck toward the table or bar top. Extend your left forefinger and slide it down the teft long side of the deck as you say, *... how far down in the deck your card is...” The position of the deck at this point allows you to glimpse the jogged card and your movernents are so motivated by the sensible patter that the glimpse will go unnoticed. See Photo Five. This wonderful glimpse is also used in Beating the Heat and AACAAAN’. FASDIU IT Page 8 TI TET EY mf anes Mama ete | ||| ||| || ma || om | oe ||—SS—S For the Laily Take the deck into left-hand dealing posi- tion, which will automatically square the jogged card, as you finish the patter line, *... tcould not have actually seen either side of i." Dribble the deck from hand to hand, a silent gesture of faimess that is nof fost on laymen, and square it up. Do not con- sciously attempt to square the jogged card when you take the deck into left-hand deal- ing position — just take the deck and the card will automatically be squared by your left photo five fingers. Have Cindy peek at a card, turning your head again as she does so. You must control Cindy's card and | have used three methods, each one requiring a slightly different proce- dure. Since [ have settled on the side steal as the control of choice in this situation, Ill explain its use fist. Afterwards, I'll explain the akernative procedures. So, after gently admonishing Cindy to remember her card, direct your attention (and Linda and Cindy's) to Rhonda and say, ‘t'm not leaving you oul!" During these actions and patter pick up the cards above the break and dribble them back onto the lower half, starting the dribble slightly injogged so as to keep track of the selection. Then, since you have dribbled the cards from hand to hand, the deck-squaring movements required to accomplish a side steal are warranted, so go ahead with the side steal, bringing Cindy's card to the top of the deck. Have Rhonda peek at a card, turning your head again as she does so. Immediately repeat the physical set-up of the peek described above, jogging Rhonda's card stightly out of the right long side of the deck. Take the deck from above with your right hand, the back of that, hand hiding the rightjogged card. Remember, at this point the trick is just beginning for these three spectators, the last of ‘them has only just looked at a card. For the purposes of this explanation, assume Linda peeked at the nine of clubs, Cindy peeked at the queen of diamonds, and Rhonda peeked at the seven of hearts. Look at Linda and point to her with the deck-held right hand as you cock the wrist of that hand so that your right palm faces your feft shoulder and glimpse FASDIU It Page 9For the Laity Rhonda's card, * You had,” you say to Linda, “a black card.” Square the jogged card as you place the deck into your left-hand dealing grip, and then fip the deck face up (book wise) into your left hand. immediately look at Rhonda (whose card you have just glimpsed) and say, ‘And yours was a seven.” Since this is way too soon for you to have any information about their cards, the specta- tors will all look at each other. You will table the deck face down with your left hand at this time too, gimpsing Cindy's card in the process. Her card is the bottom card of the face-up deck. Place the pad of your left forefinger against the outer non-index comer of that bot- tom card and as you rotate your left hand paim down to table the deck, givea little squeeze with your right forefinger. The index corner of Cindy’s card will bubble off the deck and give you a quick glimpse as the deck is tabled. See Photo Six. This is a very fast and imper- ceptible glimpse that I use all the time — especially as needed when working the multiple ‘selection routine. photo six Since your previous patter line, informing Rhonda that her card was a seven, only a sec- ond has passed while you tabled the deck and glimpsed Cindy's card. Do not hesitate. Begin giving each spectator a characteristic of her card, which will sound something like this: “You had a black card, and yours is a seven. Yours is a picture card and you have a nine while yours is a heart. You looked at the nine of clubs, you had the queen of dia monds, and you had a seven of hearts. You folks are easy!” The point here is to jump from spectator to spectator giving each one a true characteristic of the card they had peeked. FASDIU I! Page 10For the Laity This is far, far more effective than simply saying, “Linda, you looked at the nine of clubs. Cindy, you had the queen of diamonds. And Rhonda, you had the seven of hearts.” If you read the sample patter line, above, you'll see that | usually jump from Linda to Rhonda to Cindy fo Linda to Rhonda and then | name ail three cards in order from left to right. By the time I'm done with the patter line, all three spectators are nodding their heads in assent to each statement I’ve made, which is a funny and satisfying sight to the performer! Since Rhonda had only just peeked at her card, and since you have clearly (and believ- ably) explained that you could not see the fronts or backs of the cards, and since your head was tumed during each selection, and since virtually nothing else happened with the deck itself (no shuffling, no manipulation, cutting — nothing), and since the deck is tabled face down, the fact that you are able to name the characteristics of each selection in- stantly is dumbfounding to these spectators. When bartending, | usually walk away after saying, “You folks are easy!"leaving them to sort of simmer and stutter for a few minutes while | take care of another customer's drink. This is because they will have questions (lke, How the hell could you have known? Do you see a reflection in our eyes? Can we see that deck? and so forth). By walking away rather than standing in front of them smugly, the potential challenge aspect, and especially the ‘we must be idiots” aspect of the after- math is dissipated. They usually spend a few seconds dismissing any notion of how | could have known their cards and then try to call me over to do more. This is good too, as the balance of the patrons will have heightened interest by virtue of these spectators’ reactions and questions. Ifyou are not a side-stealer, then you may use a classic shift or any spread cull technique in its place. Using either of these methods actually eliminates the third glimpse as the deck is tabled. Here are the differential details: Using the Classic Shift ‘This is not my favored method as heat on the deck is very high at the point in the routine where the second selection has just been peeked and must be controlted. However, if your shift is fast and invisible, do this: after Cindy has peeked a card, tun to Rhonda and say, ‘I'm not leaving you out!” while you complete the shift. As Rhonda peeks her card, you must make sure that your left forefinger covers the index of the face card of the deck, as itis Cindy's card. After Rhonda has peeked her card, prepare to glimpse it by jogging it out of the right long side of the deck. Point to Linda and give her a characteristic of her FASDIU It Page 11For the Laity card as you make the glimpse. in this instance, however, you must remember the names of both the jogged card (which is Rhonda's selection) and the bottom card (which is Cindy's selection). Table the deck and proceed with the characteristic-naming patter line to com- plete the effect Using a Spread Cull Thisis my guertita back up method when the spectators are applying a lot of heat or when even a side steal may be angle dependent. After Cindy peeks her card spread the deck between your hands as you say, “Every now and then two people aclually peek at the same card but that won't matier, as you'll see.” During this casual patter ine, you must cull the card above your pinky break (Cindy's selection) to the bottom of the deck. Proceed as explained under “Using the Classic Shift’. This procedure, | would add, is probably the easiest, but | prefer to avoid that spreading of the deck unless angles or heat absolutely force me to use this method. The title of this routine came from a regular patron at the bar who has seen the routine many times and frequently requests it, He always says, “That just completely stumps me!” References, Credits, and Remarks © Afine description of the spectator peek may be found on pages 72 — 74 of Roberto Giobb's Card Cotege, Volume 1, Hermetic Press, inc., 1995. Athough one wou'd do well to read Mr. Giodbis entire article, for the purposes of the above routine, pay special attentionto the partion of his descrip- {ion under “A Variation” on pages 73 and 74. e My personalization of Jerry Kogan’s great glimpse was first published in my lecture noles, ...rom a shuffied deck in uso... 1996), within the routine, “Intuitive Poker’. Thase interested in a mildly amus- ing story regarding this glimpse and Mr. Kogan might look at the description of “Beating the Heat’. Mr, Kogan's glimpse was first published in Ed Marlo's great itfe booklet, Marlo in Spades, The Irelané Magic Company, 1947, within the effect “Jerry Kogan's Indicator on page 42. © Reference information for Ed Marlo's Deliberate Side Steal may be found in “A La Annemann’. e ‘The second glimpse described is, for what it's worth, original with me. I have so doubt whatsoever that other cardicians have come up with the identical process, but Ihave yet to find the glimpse in print. For titing purposes, 'N1call it the Bottom Subble Glimpse until someone points outto me from FASDIU Ht Page 12— arr i i ee ie Ose ae an For the Laity where | have reinvented it! Reference information for the Classic Shift may be found in “A La Annemann’. ‘The Spread Cullis described by Roberto Giobbi in his Card College, Volume 7, Hermetic Press, 1996, pages 187-188. also teachthe spread callin depth on my videotape, Up In Smoke, within the description of the bonus card trick, “Another Sequestered Collectors”. FASDIU I! Page 13A L Ti 1 I k Eddie Tullock is a trade show legend. Sadly, a futnoc I've never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Tullock, much fess fo see him work the trade show floor. Some years ago, Bill Herz de- scribed fo me a routine that he’d seen Mr. Tullock pertorm and I worked out a method that seemed efficient and useful to me. When Mr. Taliock’s book, Tullock, The Phan- tom Founder of Trade Show Magic (1996), came out it included the effect that Bill had described: ‘Busted Transpo.” Here is my tech- nical variation of Mr. Tullock’s routine. Effect Two spectators each take a look at a card in the middle of the deck and remember their selections. The deck is not shuffled or cut in any way. The performer states that he'll find Mary's card first because Mary chose her card first. With a soft riffle of the deck, the performer states that Mary's card will travel to the bottom. The performer turns the deck face up and says, “There it is, the king of diamonds!” Unbeknownst to the performer, he has accidentally produced the other selection, the one belonging to Jill, The performer places the king of diamonds face down in front of Mary and turns fo Jill saying, “And your card is even easier, just little spin and your card reverses itselfin the middle of the deck.” The performer spins the deck and spreads through it where, indeed, one card is found face down. The performer asks for the name of Jil's card. Jill replies, “The king of dia- monds. * ‘Not her card," the performer says, pointing to Mary, “the card you chose when we started.” Jill insists that the king of diamonds is her card and it becomes clear that the magician has erred. *Hmmm,” says the performer, “let me take a litle corrective action.” The face down card in the deck is given a spin and flipped face up ~ it is the king of diamonds. The card in front of Mary, what was thought to be the king of diamonds, is turned over to reveal that it is now Mary's selection. FASDIUH Page 14For the Laity Method and Presentation | fear that this effect reads like many other magician-in-trouble routines. | would still urge you to give the routine a go, mostly because of its efficient method, for one pure moment of conviction, and for a great presentational follow up of Mr. Tullock’s that I'll describe in the References, Ciedits, and Remarks section. ‘Taking a shuffled deck in use, begin to spread it and ask someone on your left to say stop as you spread. Time your spreading so that the spectator stops you in the top half of the deck. When she stops you, separate your hands and raise your left hand displaying the face of the top card of that half to the spectator (and to any other spectators on that side of your audience). You will cull this card below the spread as you continue spreading for a second spectator, on your right, to select a card. Although the spread cull is eyes-on de- ceptive, here is a little misdirective tip that | use anyway. After the spectators on your lefl have memorized the first selection, tum your attention to the spectators on your right and indicate one of them, preferably by name. These actions will draw the audience's attention fo the spectators on the right as well. Simultaneously bring your hands together and cull the first selection below the spread. Thus, the actual culling action, although deceptive under fire, is somewhat misdirected. Continue spread- ing as you say, “And would you please say step?” When the spectator on your right has stopped you, raise your left hand again and allow the right side of your audience to see the face of the top card of the left-hand group. Cull this card below the spread as you bring your hands together and square the deck. ‘The first spectator’s selection is second from the bottom of the deck, just below itis the sec- ond spectator's selection. Turn to the first spec- lalor and say, “Since you took your card first, 1 find it first.” Use some magical gesture to indicate that the first spectator's card will ravel to the botiom of the deck. | usually give the deck a sharp bevel and take it fromm above in my right hand as in Photo Seven, “Unbeliev- ably,” | say, “if | give the deck a rifle ike this, photo seven your card will travel from wherever it is in the FASDIU II Page 15deck ~ straight fo the bottom.” Flip the deck face up into left-hand dealing position and pre- Pare for a double turnover as you say, “There it i, the king of diamonds” (naming the card ‘on the face of the deck -- the second spectator's selection). Use a double turnover that leaves you holding the double card face down between your right ‘thumb against its back and second and third fingers on its face. See Photo Eight. | use the Stuart Gordon Double Lift, although Derek Dingle’s DD Double Lift or Martin Nash's Knockout Double will also leave you in the desired position. Whichever double turnover you use, immediately turn to the spectator on your right as your left pinky finger pulls down about half of the deck. Turn at your waist so. that your hands stay relative to one another and the opening at the right long side of the deck is pointed toward your right hip. Smoothly For the Laity photo eight photo nine insert the double into the gap you have created in the deck and use your right fingertips to slide the lower card of the double into the deck proper. See Photo Nine. photo ten Flick the corner of the face down card with your left thumb (see Photo Ten), saying, "And yourcard is even easier.” Sail the face down card (ostensibly the second selection, actually the first) face down tothe table toward your left. ifthe card you have unloaded into the deck is slightly injogged, as often happens to me, simply lower the inner right comer of the deck to the table and use the table top to push the slightly injogged card into the deck. FASDIU if Page 16For the Laity Give the deck a spin or riffle and continue the patter line, “..one iitle spin and it tums over in place in the middle of the deck.” Spread through he deck until you reach the face-down card. Outjog it and spread a bit further indicating that this is the only face-down card in the deck. Square the deck, leaving the face-down card outjogged. Note that you do not give the spectators any time to correct you when you display the second selection, claiming itto be the first spectator’s card. In fact, if hey begin to protest, | simply talk over them and continue on. At this point the second spectator’s card is be- ieved to be on the table while it is actually the facedown, outjogged card. The first spectator's actual selection is face down on the table. Ask the second spectator the name of her card. This is where a great moment of convic- tion will happen. The spectator will say, “The king of diamonds,” or otherwise indicate the tabled face-down card. “No,” you say, ‘not HER card, the card YOU looked at when we started.” Say this patter line with confident certainty, almost with fervor, as if you're a little miffed at the spectator getting confused, Your spectator's defenses will go up a bit and she'll assure you that the king of diamonds is her card. Given that she is a bit on the defensive, it wll lend conviction to the fact that you have erred, all this in the mind of the spectator. “Oh, okay,” you say, ‘let me take a litle carrective action,” and perform Matt Corin’s spin flourish as follows: make sure that a bit more than half of the card is outjogged and place the tip of your left forefinger against the face of the card. Press up with your forefinger, breaking the deck under the card. See Photo Eleven, Move your left second and third fingers away from the deck and spin the card 180 degrees by placing your ight forefinger at the outer end ofits left long side and trac- ing a clockwise circle with that finger unlit stops at the outer right comer of the deck. The card wil spin on the fulcrum created by the tip of your left forefinger. See Photo Twelve on the next page. | prefer to do this spin rather slowly, so that itis clear that the cardis not somehow switched while itis be- ing spun. After the spin, turn the outjogged card face up onto the face of the deck end- photo eleven FASDIU It Page 17For the Laity for-end showing it to be the second spectator's cards, the king of diamonds. Given the audience's conviction that you have made an error, this will come as quite a surprise. Turn to the first spectator, on your left, and say, “And what was your card?" When she names her card, flip the tabled face-down card over saying, “isn't that what | showed you earfier?” At this point the response is one of laughter as the audience realizes that you've led them down the garden path. Note that the move used to unload the second spectator's selection into the deck from the double card actually performs three functions. First, it switches the first selection into play un- beknownst to your audience. Second, it cen- ters the second selection into the deck. And thitd, it reverses that selection. This is all ac- complished with the one move, an appealing sleight-to-function ratio. References, Credits, and Remarks Mi. Tullock’s great routine, “Busted Transpo," may be found in Tuock, The Phantom Founder of Trade Show Magic, by Eddie Tullock with Gene Urban & Kenton Knepper, Kreations & Trx, 1996, page 29. Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped!” The Stuart Gordon Double Liftis referencedin “ALa Annemann’. The DD Double Lift may be found in Richard Kauiman's outstanding book, The Complete Works of Derek Dingie, Kaufman & Green- berg, 1982, page 6. Martin Nash's Knockout Double Lift may be found in Ever So Steighlly, The Professional Card Technique of Martin Nash, Stephen Minch, Mickey Hades Intemational, 1975, page 6. See also Ken Krenzel's “The Drag Lif.” from The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel, written and published by Harry Lorayne, 1978, page 26. Secretly unfoading one card from a double, usualy the lower card of a pai, is an excellent finesse «with vihich to become comfortable. Carmen D’Amico’s “D'Amico range” and Martin Nash's “Ghost Switch’ are similar if nol identical techniques that work well wth the Stuart Gordon Double Lift. See Expert Card Conjuring, by Alton Sharpe, 1968, beginning on page 44, for Mr, D’Amico's technique and Any Second Now, Part Two of the Professional Card Technique of Martin Nash, by Stephen Minch, Mickey Hades International, 1977, page 152 for Mr. Nash's technique. | have merely applied FASDIU It Page 18eee eee For the Laity these techniques to the middle of the deck instead of the top ofthe deck. Matt Corin's “Spin Flourish” may be found in the September 1995 issue of Genii Magazine within the routine ‘The Time Machine," on page 922, Another description may be found in FUSILLADE, A Treatise on the Muliple Selection Routine, Cummins & Eason, 2000, page 60. ‘Similar to, but simpler than, the second phase of Mr. Tulock’s “Busted Transpo" as described in his abovementioned book, | always use this follow up tothe routine: at the end of the routine as cutined ‘above, you have the face-up deck in dealing position in your left hand with the second selection at its face, The first selection is face up on the table. So, pick up the first selection with your right hand as your leftthumb pushes the face card of the deck tothe right. Sip the first selection under the second selection atthe face of the deck and maintain a eftpinky break betow these two cards. Undercuthalf of the deck to the top. As your tum the dack face down into your left hand, maintaining the pinky break, say, “This goes against my nature, but ff do it again.” Nowuse J.K, Hartman's wonderful Throw Forceto force the two selections on the same two specta- tors. Tum your left hand so that the top of the deck faces towards your right, the deck perpendicular to the floor and the pinky break facing the floor. Adopting this position for any rifle force in which @ break is held is cecommerded as the break is better hidden than if he deck were held with its top ‘card parallel tothe celling. Rifle along the side of the deck with your fet thurnb as you ask the first ‘spectator to say stop. When she does, begin tuining your left hand palm up and with a slight jerk to the right, toss all of the cards above the break into waiting right hand. Thumb off the top card of the {eft-hand halfin front of the spectator on your lef and thumb off the ext card in front of the spectator to your fight. As you reassemble the deck ask your spectators to take @ look at their cards, Watch them. Just as it dawns on them that they have both chosen the same card again, say,‘ told you ft do it again!" Interested readers will want fo check Mr. Hartman's Card Crait, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1991, page 76 or his Means and Ends, 1973, page 4 for the Throw Force. Doug Conn has also pointed out to me that the ubiquitous Alex Elmsley came up with a force ofthis nature as well. See The Collected Works of Alex Elmsiey, Volume 2, Stephen Minch, LAL Pubishing, nc., 1994, p. 212. FASDU It Page 19A Te t / Steve Reynolds is a bright, skilled, sly card ota guy. He is also a student of card magic, al- ways abandoning paradigms and seeking Tr i um Pp h new methods and presentations thet are outside our familiar “box.” A few years ago, Steve put an interesting presentational ap- proach to Vemon’s “Triumph” effect in a posting to The Second Deal web site. The idea really appealed to me and | immedi- ately gave it a try. Over the course of performing the routine many, many times since then, I've personalized it and worked out a few methodological options that allow for different circumstances. What is so wonderful about Steve's presentational ploy is that the spectators provide for themselves an incredibly strong level of conviction regarding the condition of the ostensi- bly topsy-turvy shuiffed deck. Effect The spectator selects a card and notes it. The performer splits the deck into two halves, turns one of the halves face up, and shuffles the face-up half into the face-down half. The deck is not squared completely however, leaving a face-up hall projecting from a face- down haif. The spectator's selected card is inserted face down among the face-up half of the tabled, elongated deck. Finally, the face-up and face-down halves of the deck are pushed together until the deck is perfectly squared. “Now,” the performer explains, “have a problem, | have to figure out which card is yours, find it, and straighten out the deck. Ido that ike this, watch." After a suitably innocent but magical gesture, the deck is spread and all the cards are face down with the exception of the selected card. Method and Presentation Before presenting this routine the bottom card of the deck must be face up. One could execute a half pass just prior to presenting the routine, but my preference is to reverse the FASDIU Ht Page 20For the Laity card well in advance, of, when another routine leaves a secretly reversed card in the deck, Nl cut it to the bottom and then perform “A Total Triumph." Needless to say, it is imperative that your audience have no suspicion whatsoever that the bottom card is reversed. ‘Spread the deck widely between your hands for the selection of a card, being mindful, of course, not to flash the reversed card at the bottom of the deck. Utimately, you must reverse the bottom half of the deck as the deck is spittinto two halves (the venerable flop). There are a few ways I do this, depending on my performing situa- tion. I'l exptain them below, each description beginning while the deck is still spread be- tween your hands with the spectator having just removed their selection Flop for the Laity The simplest method is to use Tenkai's wonderful Optical Revolve and this is the ruse | use when performing the routine for the laity. After the spectator has selected her card, square the deck. Ask her to semember the card and fo show itto the company. That dane, lift the top half of the deck with your right hand from above and reverse the orientation of both hands, turning your right hand palm up and your left hand palm down. See Photos ‘Thirteen and Fourteen. Place the right-hand, face-up half below the left-hand cards jogged for haif of their length to the right. See Photo Fifteen on the next page. While there is a glaring discrepancy because the left-hand half has a back showing on its top and bottom, the movement of your hands and the appearance of a face-up card on the right-hand haif provides enough optical misdirection that the discrepancy will not be noted by a lay audi- ence. The Optical Revolve is the only way to go with the laity. photo thiteen photo fourteen FASDIU If Page 24For the Laity Lower your left hand to the table, release the face-up half to the table from its right- jogged position, and mave the remaining half o a position on the table just to the left of the face-up half in preparation for ariffle shuffle, Riffle the two halves together tak- ing care to fet the top, face down card of the left-hand half fall last. This should be a closed or semi-closed shufife to ensure that the face up cards in the left-hand haif are not exposed. Square the deck until about one third of the face-up half extends from the face-down half. From this paint, move on fo the section titled, Reynolds’ Presentational Ploy. photo fifteen Flop for a Watchful Group Sometimes you'll have a group that is watching a bit more closely than those run-of-the- mil, we're-just-here-to-have-fun type of spectators. For this group I'll praceed as follows. ‘As the spectator is selecting her card from the spread deck, eye-sight the middte of the deck, Once the spectator has her selection, split the deck at its midpoint, taking a half- spread in each hand and squaring each half into dealing position. Move your left hand to your leit and extend your left forefinger, pointing at a spectator on your left. Sweep your Pointing left hand from left to right across the group of people that are watching your performance. During this sweep your hand will hand will naturally turn palm down. Addi- tionally you should say, “Show the cardto everyone here, to justify the sweeping/pointing gesture. Keeping your left hand palm down, tabte its half in front of you, long side of the deck par- allel to the table edge. Simulta- neously tum your right hand in- ward and table its half face down as well. See Photo Sixteen. This flop will go by the scrutiny of most groups, the larger (and motivated) motion of pointing and sweeping will cover the smaller motion of photo sixteen FASDIU I! Page 22For the Laity tuming your left hand palm down. ‘Tum the right-side tabled half of the deck face up and riffie the two halves together using a closed or semi-closed shuffle to hide the face-up cards in the left-hand half. Let the top card of the left half fail last and square the deck until about one third of the face-up half extends from the face-down half. From this point, move on to the section titled Reynolds’ Presentational Ploy. Fiop for the Magi I've tried the above two methods of the flop on magicians and while either of them get by some brethren, neither gets by them all. They recognize the Optical Revolve and they ‘suspect the sweeping/pointing motion, ultimately using retrograde analysis to determine that a flop has been made. So, for magicians, the following sequence has proven the most effective for me. As the spectator removes her selection from the spread, eye-sight the midpoint of the deck. Split the deck at that point and square each half in its respective hand. Look up and address a spectator on your extreme left or right. As you do, drop your hands to the table turning your left hand palm down. Diop its half-deck and gently place the right-hand half face down as well. Immediately shuffle the halves together, saying, “Croupiers in casinos shuffle like this because it is such a thorough shufife.” Do not square the cards at all. In fact, pull the halves apart, turn the right-hand half face up, and reshuffle the halves, again, using a closed or semi-closed shuffle: “fi! use the croupier shuifie, but I'l tum one haif face up.” Make sure that the top card of the left half falls ast and square the deck until about one third of the face-up half extends from the face down half. I'm not sure why I've had more success using this flop over the others for magicians, perhaps because there are no flagrant or unexpected movements. Also, once you begin to shuffle the face-halves into one another the magician’s mindset relaxes — remember that they don't know that you're going to do a triumph-type routine yet. I should also add that if you want to fool magicians with this routine, especially “fast company” as it has been called, you must get the flop by them. If they don’t see the flop, Reynolds’ Presenta- tional Ploy will hold their hand down the garden path quite securely before you turn on the FASDIU It Page 23For the Leity proverbial sprinklers. Reynolds’ Presentational Ploy Whichever method you have used for the flop, you should be in the following position: the elongated, tabled, shufiled deck is before you; the left half is apparently face down while all of its cards save the one on top are face up. The right half of the deck is face up and extends from the face-down haif for about one third of its length. Take the selection from the spectator in such that itis clear that you are not peeking at the face of the card. Place your left hand paim down onto the tabled semi-shuffled deck and riffle half way up its near side with your left thumb. Riffle directly at the point where the cards are meshed. See Photo Seventeen. photo seventeen Insert the selection face down into the gap formed by your jeft thumb in such a way that when you square the long sides of the selection with the long sides of the deck, that the selection is jogged out of the right side, a half-inch or so beyond the face-up haif. See Photo Eighteen. Say, ‘Obviously, itis easy at this point for me to find your card.” Your audience will havetto agree. Square the jogged selection with the face-up half of the deck 4's stil quite easy to find your card because its the photo eighteen FASOIW fi Page 24For the Laity only one that's face down in this half.” While using your left hand (still palm down over the deck) to gently steady the cards, riffle up the outer right comer of the face-up half with your right forefinger, See Photo Nineteen. Your audience will also agree with this statement. Slowly square the deck. ‘Now, "you say, ‘I've got a problem,” Since your patter has empha- sized the location of the selected card and since you have not said anything about the fact that the cards are face up and face down, yout audience surmises what you mean when you say the above patter line. They say to themselves, “yes, now he does have a problem because the deck is mixed upside down and backwards.” In other words, your actions and patter have forced the spectators to. decide for themselves that the problem lies with the topsy-turvy condition of the deck. Since they come to this decision themselves, the conviction that the deck is mixed face up and face down is very, very strong. This, for me, is the beauty of Steve Reynolds’ presen- tational ploy. photo nineteen The following little sequence is solely designed to cause the spectators to forget which side of the deck is which. Pick up the deck and pface & into dealing position without tuming itlover. Place yout left thumb below the deck and execute Francis Carlyle’s Paddle Move, to wit: flip the deck onto your left fingers 2s your left hand tums palm down. Simulta- neously, your right hand turns palm up. Grip the tight, long side of the deck with your right hand, thumb on top and fingers below and tum the deck end-over-end back into your left hand, which has tumed palm up again to receive it. The deck actually turns over three times during this sequence, and ends up face down in your hand (with the face-up selec- tion in its middle and a face up card at its bottom). To motivate the sequence, and to keep the rhythm and flow of the presentation | say, ‘I've got to figure out which card is yours, find it, and straighten out the rest of the deck.” “And t do thai,” you say, “tke this.” Make a magical gesture in which its completely clear that no maniputation is taking place. Remember that the spectator's conviction that the deck is a hopeless mess is very high right nowy that conviction having been self-imposed. The spectator will be looking for more than a shake of a wrist or the wave of a hand to correct the situation that the deck is in. So, since the magical gesture you make is so FASDIU Ht Page 25For the Laity manipulation-free (| just twitch my wrist to effect the magic), when you now begin fo spread the deck and the first ten or fifteen cards are all face down your spectators will be stumped and surprised. After spreading about ten cards, cull one card under the spread and then continue until you reach the spectator's selection in the middle of the deck. Outjog the selection and spread ten or fifteen cards beyond it, Square the deck allowing the culled card to coalesce at the bottom and flip the deck face up. Remove the selection, tossing it face up on the table, and ribbon spread the deck face up. When you ribbon spread, be mindful that the second card from the face of the deck is reversed. While not entirely necessary, | use this Ploy to assuage any suspicion on the part of the onlookers that might have an inkling that a flop was used. A flop would mean that one card is still reversed in the deck and the ribbon spread allays suspicion of that method. Cleaning up When | showed this routine to my friend Mike Gallo, I was in the habit of cleaning up the reversed card second from the bottom right away. This, | thought, so that | could immedi- ately table the deck so that any one who had a mind to could take a look at it. Mike made the following comment that taught me an important lesson, and I'l pass it on to you: “Don't clean up, Paul; you'd killed me untit you did the clean up!" So, sit on the deck or, as | usually do now, have a card removed from the face-up spread to begin another routine - one in which it won't matter that you've seen the card. Or, pull a four of a kind out of the spread, tabling them to one side in preparation of doing a routine with them. Either way, scoop up the deck and do a hit double lift with the two face cards. Drag the double to the right across the face of the deck and tusn your left hand palm down while executing a KM move, Your left hand, still palm down, pins the selection from the “Triumph’ effect to the mat white your right hand uses what was the face card to scoop up that selection. Both are added to the face of the deck and you proceed to your next routine. References, Credits, and Remarks e Steve Reynolds kindly gave his permission for me to include this awesome rendition of “Triumpn’ in these notes, His original post to the TSD web site was on Thursday, May 18%, 2000 and tiled "Sim- pistic Téiumphr. FASDIU ti Page 26For the Laity ai Vernon's oxiginal "Trismph may be found in Stars of Magic, Louis Tannen, Inc., 1961, page 23. ‘The Halt Pass is well described by Roberto Giobbiin Card Collage, Volume 4, Hermetic Press, Inc., 2000, on page 988 in the articie titled “The Christ Twist’. ‘Tenkai's Optical Revolve is described by Harlan Tarbell in Ths Tarbell Course in Magic, Volume 1, 0. Robbins & Co., 1974, within the routine tited“Tenkai’s Reverse Cards Mystery.” which starts on page 218. Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped” ‘A ceseripticn of the KIM Move may be found in Roberto Giobbi's Card Coltege, Volume 3, Hermetic Press Inc.,1998, on page 518. ‘When performing for magicians | always use the following ruse. Just after you have squared the selection with the face-up half of the tabfed, elongated deck, square the deck slowly and openly — and set up for a strip-out shuffle. Make the brief for this shuffle incredibly tiny as in Photo 29. Your audience of magicians, assuming they did not see the flop, will truly tink that you are about to somehow strip cut one hal of the deck despite this teeny, tiny brief, Pause and take a deep breath, as if saying to yourself “I hope | can get this stip-out done,” and square the deck ful, obliterating even the tny brief. Now your magical audience, having thought you were going to strip out one halfof the deck, wil have no due to your method. An excellent description of the Strip-Out Shuffle may be found in Darwin Oriz’s great book, Darwin Orta at the Card Table, Kautman & Greenberg, 1888, page 68. photo twenty FASDIU tt Page 27: In Workers 5, Mike Close describes @ dia- B ea ti n g bolical method for performing the venerable Invisible Deck routine with a non-gaffed th e Hea t deck of cards. Within his typically terrific de- scription of the routine, he references Alan Ackerman’s ‘Impromptu Ura Mental,” from Here's My Card. He also mentions that Mr. Ackerman cites, in Las Vegas Kardma, an Unpublished routine of Bruce Cervon's as an inspirational source. Finally, Mr. Close mentions an ungaffed method for Ultra Mental that Steve Beam showed him et e convention they had worked together. Alter absorbing the Close and Ackerman routines (to my knowledge, the Cervon and Beam routines were stil unpublished), I decided, for reasons thal are personel to my style of magic and the limits of my abilities, that ! am not able to perform either of these gentlemen's routines. For instance, at this point in my development as a cardician ! do not use a memorized deck, and therefore the Close routine is out of the question forme. I belive Mr. Ackerman’s routine is historically significant in that it inspired Mr. Close (and me, | suppose) fo explore further possible methods. Mr. Ackerman’s routine is very well constructed and employs a wondertul shortest-distance-between-two-points method that appeals to me. However, in the Ackerman routine (and, apparently, the Beam routine) the magician must search for the named card while under a considerable, in fact significant, amount of heat - an aspect of the routine that was also noted by Close, and one that does not fit my performing style. Having seen both Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Beam in action, have no doubt that they cruise through this portion of the routine without raising suspicion — # don’t have the courage to withstand that heat! The Beam routine that Mr. Close alluded to in Workers 5 was actually a routine developed by Scott Robinson. Mr. Robinson's routine is terrific, but it also requires that the named card be covertly found under heat as the deck is spread. So, inspired by these gentlemen's routines, and in an effort to tind a method suitable to my style of performing, “Beating the Heat” was formed and performed. Here are what | be- FASDIU I! Page 28For the Laity Jiave to be the trade-offs between ihe above mentioned efforts and the one you are about to read. if you are a memorized deck person, Mr. Close's method provides, { believe, the strongest effect, and you may easily maintain the order of the memorized deck. Mr. ‘Ackerman’s routine may be performed at any point in an impromptu pertormance; virtually no set up or pre-arrangement is necessary - a definite plus. In the routine fo follow, no memorized deck is necessary. There is an arrangement to the deck, but it may be set under fire with logical presentational motivation. There are only two sleights involved (es in the Clase and Ackerman routines), but there is virtually no heaton either sleight, by virtue of the construction of the routine and a purposefully timed patter line. The routine reintroduces an extremely subtle glimpse that has flown by many an experienced card man and virtually ell laypersons. The deck arrangement may be easily reset for subsequent performances (.0., in table hopping situations), or the deck may be used for other routines, as itis free of gaffs. Two decks are used, a significant departure from the Close an Ackerman routines, but the presence of the second deck is logical and does nat invite suspicion. Finally, although the routine to follow has been inspired by the Close and Ackerman routines, ihe resulting effect is somewhat different as no thought-of card is used and no invisible-deck patter is employed. The Effect ‘The performer states that he had a premonition earlier and introduces a cased deck of cards in which, he says, there is a prediction. A spectator takes a second deck, borrowed it possible, ang gives ita thorough shuffle and cut. The spectator spreads out this shuffled deck and arbitrarily slides a card completely aut of the spread — a card whose identity is dearly unknown fo anyone, The spread deck is squared and tured face up. The unknown selection is slowly. and openly slid face down and square into this face-up deck and that whole unit is tabled. The previously introduced cased decks removed and spread untila face-down cardis reached. The performer names the reversed card in this deck and then displays it, confirming his statement. The spectator removes her selection from the tabled deck, and it matches the performer's prediction card. FASOIU Page 29For the Laity Method and Presentation Atthe time of this waiting, | have been performing this routine for about three years. |have performed it for many more magicians than laypersons as | usually revert to my standard workers when performing for the public. This is not a hit-and-run routine though, and | believe one must wait for the right moment to perform it for laypersons — for instance, when asked fo retum to an interested group for additional magic. There are two approaches to the routine. In the approach | use most often I pre-stack the deck, case it, and place it in the outer breast pocket of my coat. The other approach is from a shuffled deck in use, and I'l explain how | get into the routine on the fly at the end of this article. The Pre-stack Approach and Box Placement Here’s the stack; run through a face-up deck and cull all of the even-numbered cards, the 2's, 4's, 6's, 8's, 10's, and queens. | always leave both jokers in my deck (so | have them to remove if | need to cull cards for a subsequent effect), so | gave them a function in this routine. As the even-numbered cards are culled upjog the jokers. Remove the jokers and Place the even-numbered packet of cards back-to-back with the odd-numbered packet. ‘Spread the back-to-back deck and place one joker face up into the facing group of cards, say they are the even-numbered ones, so that it is the fourth card from the back-to-back juncture. Flip the deck over and similarly place the other joker fourth from the back-to- back juncture in the odd-numbered packet. Place the deck into its box such that the even-numbered packet faces outward on the half- moon side of the box. If you were to turn the box over, so the half moon was down, the deck would come out of the box with the odd-numbered half facing outward. Place this cased deck into your pocket. When performing for other magicians, | will ask one of them to shuffle his own deck. When performing for the laity, I'll ask one of them to thoroughly shuffle the deck | have been using. As the deck is shuffled, | remove the cased deck, and place it off to my left, and ‘state that I recently had a premonition and that there is a prediction in this deck. The placement of the prediction deck is important. It must be placed to your left with the FASDIU It Page 30eee ea eae ia esac see eee ee For the Laity long side of the deck towards you. The half moon side of the box must be visible (facing skyward), and the short end of the box with the opening must be facing toward your right. ‘This specific placement will eliminate any fumbling when you eventually have to remove: the cards from the box with the even-numbered or odd-numbered half-deck facing out- ward Glimpsing the Free Selection Afier the spectator has shufiled, | always make the following statement: ‘Please cut the deck too, I don't want you to think | may have seen the bottorn card.” After the cut | ask her to spread the deck on the table and | say, “This will have no impact unless you are abso- lutety convinced that no one knows the location of any card in that deck. If you're not sure, then shuffle again.” This fine has proven to be very important and Iterally true. The audi- ence must have absolutely no doubt that the deck is truly shuffled and that no one could possibly know the location of any card. Have the spectator slide any card out of the spread and leave it on the table. Pick up the remainder of the deck, square it, turn it face up, and hold it in teft-hand dealing posi You will now discover the identity of the selected card with a terrific, well covered glimpse. ‘Your actions here must be slow and deliberate — you do not want your audience to suspect that you are doing anything except what is outwardly apparent to them. Pick up the selected card with your right fingers by its outer short edge. Rifle off about half of the deck with your left thumb and insert the selection face down into the gap you've formed in the deck. Square the long sides of the card with the face-up deck and leave it outjogged. Again, perform these actions slowly and deliberately, making it clear than nei- ther you nor anyone else could have seen the face of the card. Bring your right hand over the deck and push the face-down card square into the face-up deck. By exerting slightly more pressure on the outer left comer of the face-down card, it will angle outof the deck at the inner right long side, covered by your right hand. The outer fight corner of the face-down card, by virtue of the angle jog, will also jog slightly at the tight side of the outer end of the deck. You should feel this jog with your right pinky. Use your pinky to move this siight jag to the right, squaring the card with the short ends of the deck while rightfogging it about a half inch from the right long side of the deck. tmmedi- ately look up at your audience and say, “{ already know two things about your card.” This FASDIU it Page 31For the Laity statement will surprise your audience a bit — what could you possibly know? Continue, *.../ know it is not the two of clubs...” Here you lift the deck from above with your right hand, and as you name the face card of the deck you tip the outer short end of the deck down so that the deck is almost perpendicular to the floor. This action ostensibly makes the face card more visible to your audience. | also tap the face card with my left forefinger to punctuate the patter line. Itis at this moment that you glimpse the jogged selection. Just peek down at the deck, which is backs toward you, and take a look at the jogged selection. Immediately return the deck to a position parallel to the floor, Place your left hand under your right and pull the deck into your left hand, squaring the jogged card with your left fingers as the deck is grasped, and continue your patter: *...and / know it is the only face down-card in this deck.” Table the deck near the spectator who slid the selection from the ‘spread deck earlier. | independently came up with this glimpse, which I think is so well motivated that itis very difficult to detect. In the course of research for the ...from a shufffed deck in use... lecture notes, in which this glimpse is included, | discovered that the mechanics of the glimpse had been published previously in Ed Marto's wonderful book, Marfo in Spades. The glimpse is included in a routine called “Jerry Kogan’s Indicator’ on page 42. Ironically, Mr. Kogan was a demonstrator at the local magic shop here in Jacksonville, FL! Since Ihad used the glimpse on Jerry a number of times, | went down to the shop and talked to him about it. We both had a laugh and Jerry noted that he never used a motivating patter fine to accomplish the actual glimpse; he just turned up the deck and looked at the card. My experience has shown that a simple patter line that motivates the turning of the face of the deck toward the audience makes the glimpse a fooler. Credit for the glimpse, though, goes to my friend Jerry Kogan. Removal of the Pre-Stacked Deck Since you know the identity of the selection, you must now remove the tabled deck from its box such that the proper packet (odd or even) is facing outward. Assume first that the selection is an even-numbered card. Pick up the cased deck with your left hand from above by the long sides and use your right hand to open the flap. Remove the deck with your ight hand, return the empty box to its previously tabled position, and place the deck into left-hand dealing position. FASDIU if Page 32oO eee meee | ere me ee a LIMIT For the Laity Ifthe selected card is an odd-numbered card, do this: pick up the cased deck from above with your feft hand by its long sides. Be sure that your left forefinger is against the short end of the box at the half-moon side. Now move your left hand toward your right and pull up on the right short side of the box with your left forefinger. The box will pivot lengthwise toward the right, between your left second finger and thumb. | also straighten my left third and fourth fingers against the box to help the forefinger pivot the box. During this pivot action, your right hand should be poised, palm down, toreceive the box. The closed, short ‘end of the box should land directly into your tight fingers, which grasp the box between the thumb and fingers at the long sides. Use your left fingers to flip the box flap over the left short end of the box and hold the flap against the box with your right forefinger. Pull the deck out of the box about halfway and then position your left hand under the deck and take if directly into left-hand dealing position. I've given quite a bit of attention to how the deck is removed from the box because | think itis extremely important, particularly when working for magicians, that there is absolutely ro fumbling at this point. Anything less than smoothly removing the deck from the box here would, | believe, represent a potential “tel” to the method. Additionally, you should not be looking at the box as you pick it up and open it-took at the box only as you remove the deck Acquiring and Placing the Glimpsed Card ‘Assume for this description that the glimpsed selection is the ten of clubs and that you have removed the deck such that the even-numbered packet is facing outward as de- scribed above, Spread through the face-up cards and cull the ten of clubs below the spread. Importantly, since the identity of the selected card is unknown to the audience, there is virtually no heat on this cull. This represents a significant difference from Mr Ackerman’s method as the spreading is done slowly and openly under the full attention, and within sight, of the whole audience. When you get to the joker, you know thet there are only three more face-up cards before you get to the face-down half of he deck. The joker serves the function of waming you to spread single cards a bit more carefully so that you do not inadvertently spread past the first face down card. The simple, descriptive patter during the above actions of removing the deck from the ‘box and spreading through the cards is as follows: “There's one face down card in here... and there it is.” The last face-up card should be slightly injogged as it is spread over to your FASDIU It Page 33For the Laity right hand, In fact, | lift the entire spread of face-up cards with my right hand and tap the face-down card as | finish the patter line. Now square the deck, the culled card coalescing at the bottom. Also, use the injogged card to establish a break between the back-to-back packets with your left pinky. The target card is now face up at the bottom of the deck, and you have a pinky break between the back-to-back packets. At this point you are well ahead of your audience. To their mind, there is an unknown face- down card in a face-up tabled deck in front of them, and there appears to be a single face- down card in the prediction deck. They are unaware that you know the identity of the selection in the tabled deck, much less that you have controlied it in the other deck! There is one more sleight to accomplish; you must half pass the cards below the pinky break. The half pass is a very deceptive sleight, but there is significant heat on the predic- tion deck at this point because everyone wants to know what that face-down card is! A simple patter line takes all the heat off the half pass: “Of course | know the card f pre- dicted, its the ten of clubs." This line takes al the heat off the deck, and therefore off the sleight — you have sated the curiosity of your audience by answering the foremost ques- tion in their mind. And it makes sense to announce the card before you show it; the fact that the reversed card is the ten of clubs becomes a mete confirmation of your statement. So, just after you have squared the deck, look up and use the patter fine to announce the identity of the prediction card. Simultaneously execute the half pass and immediately (though not hurriedly) pressure fan the deck face up. This pressure fan is your excuse for having squared the deck; otherwise, why not show the face-down card from the earlier spread deck? Pull the lone face-down card halfway out of the fan and tum the fan over, displaying the ten of clubs, and confirming your earlier announcement that itis the predic- tion card. Al that remains is to have the spectator spread out the tabled deck and flip up the lone face-down card, the selected card. Of course, they match, and your premonition has proved to be impossibly accurate. Resetting the Pre-Stacked Deck You may now proceed to other effects with the deck you hold, or you may easily reset it for a repeat performance with another audience. To reset, close the pressure fan. Grip the FASDIU it Page 34For the Laity outjogged, face-down card with your right fingers and lift up on it slightly, allowing your left pinky to establish a break. Revolve the jogged card face up onto the face of the deck and immediately half pass the cards below the break. Case the deck appropriate to the set-up, with the even-numbered packet against the half moon, and retum the deck to your pocket. From A Shuffled Deck In Use ‘A few notes to complete this description. When | perform the routine on the fly, without having pre-set the deck, | start by saying the following: “You know, / hada premonition the other day. Give me a second here to make a prediction ... and why don't you shuffle that deck?" Indicate that the spectator should shufile the other deck. ‘Take your deck just below the level of the table and spread through it, culling the even- numbered cards and outjogging the jokers. Half pass the even cards, Remove the jokers and place them onto the table. While yout hand is above table level, grab the box and take itbelow the table. Case the deck below table level, then bring it up and table it to your left as described earlier saying, “Okay, 've made a prediction in thal deck and I'm committed to it" Proceed with the routine as described with one difference: spread slowly as you approach the center of the deck — you don't have the jokers to remind you tal the face- down half is imminent! | do not prefer this scenario, but I do use it. Ittakes me about 20-25 seconds to set the deck below table level and this is dead time. | cover the dead time about halfway through my below-table actions by glancing up at the spectator who is shuffling and making a comment of two appropriate to how she is executing the shuffles. Don't Freak Out! Finally, there are two situations that may arise for which you should be prepared. One is when the glimpsed card is at the face of the deck (or very near the face, making the spread cull awkward) when you remove the deck from the box. What | doin this instance is spread a small group of cards into my right hand, five or so, and then separate my hands as | say, “The card in that deck might match any of these.” During the patter, 1 spread a small group of cards onto those in my right hand and then square the deck, loading the initially spread group into the center of the face-up packet. Now I re-spread and cull the appropriate card. Depending on the circumstances, | sometimes just slip cut the face card into the middle of the face-up cards, too. Don’t get uptight if this happens to you — remember that your audience has no idea what the selected card is (the one you FASDIU i Page 35For the Laity glimpsed), so there is no heat. ‘A second situation is that the last face-up card is the glimpsed card. This is not as bad as it feels the first time or two that it happens! First, you are prepared for it because as you spread closer and closer to the middle of the deck you will not have seen the glimpsed card yet. If | don’t see the glimpsed card when | have spread through half of the face-up cards, | start preparing myself for the fact that the last face-up card may be my target card to cull. Knowing this, and being prepared for it, makes the culf much easier. Also, every- ‘one is looking for the face-down card, which inherently misdirects from the cull of the target caid no matter where it is in the spread. References, Credits, and Remarks | want to specifically mention that the concept of setting the halves of the pack, culling the target or glimpsed card, and the use of the half pass all come from the Ackerman version of the routine, “Impromptu Ultra Mental,” from his took, Here's My Carcl(Gambler's Book Club Press, 1978, page 47), Ihave added the even/odd stack to get me to the correct half deck without suspicion, this idea stemming from Ackerman's"“A Closer Approach” version (ibid, page 49}, and also used by Messrs. Robinson and Close, the second deck to take all the heat of the Spread Cull the early disclosure of the name of the prediction card to take the heat off the Haif Pass, and the necessary addition of my version of Mr. Kogan's glimpse to ascertain the identity of the selected card from the second deck In the Author's Note section of Las Vegas Kardma (A-1 Muliltedia, 1994), Mr, Ackerman mentions, that Bruce Cervon had no less than twenty-e'ght versions of this effect thirty-one years ago in 19891 | am not privy to these methods (nor to Mr. Beam's method, though per Mr. Close’s comments in Workers 5, | expect itis significantly different from the method you see here), s0 if | have inadvert- enty reinvented a method of Mr. Cervon's, | hope he will forgive my publication of it here. Mr. Close's routine “The Invisible Deck” may be found in his book, Workers 5, 1996, on page 138, Reference information for Mr. Kogan’s glimpse may be found in *Stumped!™ Mr. Robinson's routine, ‘Riding the Wave,’ may be foundin Steve Beam's Trapdoor magazine, Issue #46, on page 842 A tertifc explanation of an insertion jog may be found in JK. Hartman's book, Card Craft, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1991, on page 131 or in his manuscript, Means and Ends, 1973, on page 13. Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped!” FASDIU It Page 36Per AIRE ALL PRI AL ETDTT THAT FETPTTITIAL VARIO AT UPPED SP TPTPH OPEPPTRIL || revPE || PPPTTTB/ 1 EPPTTPN| 1 PEPTTPE II PPTPPPT II PITTI PPITPRAI PINT PRAT PINT PCA IT PITT Reference information for the Half Pass may be found in “A Total Triumph”. FASDIU 1 Page 37 For the LaityAA CAAAN' Almost Any Card At Almost Any Number. This is the method | use for the laity. The routine uses a bit of jazz magic and while ! perform it under any circumstances, 1 also utilize i in a few specific situations. Two such situations are when I have a very challenging spectator that ! want to quiet down or win over, and the other is over the bar as an opener to establish that f won't be performing simple counting tricks — Ym going to rock their wortd. Effect The performer has a card chosen and noied. The spectator returns the card to the deck and shutfies the card into the deck herself. The deck is shown to be well shuffled and is then tabled, The spectator chooses a smail number, say Wee, and the performer recaps: the action, “You chose any card you wanted to and you shuffled it into the deck. Then you chose the number three. So if I snapped my finger over the deck and your queen of clubs was the third card from the top that wouldn't be so bad, now, would it?” The spectator counts to the third card from the top of the tabled deck to find the chosen card, the queen of clubs. Method and Presentation Again, this routine may read duily; but the effect on the laity is unfathomable, Since the spectator shuffles her own selection into the deck, her conviction that it is lostis extremely strong. By the time the small number is chosen and the deckis tabled, there is no doubt in the mind of the spectator that the deck is in a random order and that the performer could not know the identity or location of the chosen card, Oddly, while your spectator will be surprised that the selection is at her chosen number, itis only a moment later that she will realize that you did not ask her the name of her card ~ you somehow knew what it was. FASDIU it Page 38For the Laity The Spectator Selects and Buries their Card Taking a shuffled deck in use, prepare any card in the middle of the deck for a classic force {Le., glimpse a card and hold a break at it in accordance with your favorite method for the classic force). Do.a very open, casual classic force of the glimpsed card. While itis better for the force card to be chosen, it is not absolutely necessary. Itis very, very important that the spectator fee! that she has a perfectly free choice, so don't force the force on her, as it wete. Ironically, knowing that it is not absolutely necessary that the classic force be hit actually makes it a bit easier to hitit. IF the spectator takes the force card, immediately table the deck and take a step back, saying, “Take @ look at the card, show it to the others, and then shuffie it into the deck yourself." From a iayperson's perspective, this is a strong beginning to the routine. She has chosen any card and she is losing it into the deck herself. When performing for a troublesome spectator, the kind for which | purposeful use this routine, they are not likely to take the force card. Or the casual classic force may miss, Don't worry. Do not tabie the deck. Instead, spread it for the selection to be replaced and obtain a break below the selection. Square the deck, your right hand above it, and angle the selection out of the deck a bit with the pad of your left pinky finger. Use your right pinky finger to slide the top right corner of the angled card to the right a bit until the selection is square with the short ends of the deck and rightjogged below your right hand for about a quarter of an inch Take the deck in your right hand and tum your right paim toward you as your left fingers indicate the left long side of the deck. Say, “We all know your card’s approximate position in the deck. For that reason, give these a good shuffle.” During the patter line, glimpse the index of the jogged selection. Take the deck into your teft hand, automatically squaring the jogged card and hand the deck to the spectator for shuffling. This is the Kogan Glimpse as desciibed in “Stumped!” and "Beating the Heat.” Whether the classic force hits or not you are in a position where you know what the selection is and the spectator has strong conviction that you not onty do not know the identity of her card, but you certainly have no idea of its focation in the deck — which is true. FASDIU It Page 39For the Laity Reclaiming the Lost Selection Once the deck has been fully shuffled extend your hand for it. Flip the deck face up and begin spreading it with the faces visible only to yourself. Search for the chosen card and when you see it, cull it under the spread as you lower the spread so that the spectators may see the faces of the cards. Since the card may be near the face, middle, or back of the deck | use whatever portion of the folowing patter line is necessary to complete this, spreading and culling: ‘Wow, these are well shuffled. Are you @ card player? Well, you did a great job with these.” So, a litle jazzing here. If you spot the chosen card immediately, say only the first sentence of the above patter line (culling the chosen card) and square the deck turing it face down into your left hand with the selection on top of the deck. If, after saying the first sentence in the patter line, you have not yet come to the chosen card, stall for a beat as you continue to spread and look, and then say the second sentence of the patter line which is.a direct question. If by now you have spotted and culled the chosen caid (lowering the spread too), then square up and flip the deck face down. While the spectator answers your question (‘no, I'm not much of a card player.” of “my family plays a lot of cards," or whatever), you have another three or four seconds fo search. Some- times the card is very near the back of the deck, in which case you would say the entire patter line. I've never had to stall or babble any longer than the above patter line or some- thing very close to it. Once the deck is face down in your left hand, ask the spectator for a number. To ensure that the number is small, | say the following: "Do you have a favorite number, a really small one?” Most spectators will give you a number lower than about 8, which is what you're looking for. Ita spectator gives you a number like 37 or 18, say, “No, no, a teeny number.” Usually this will work and she'll give you another, small number. In the References, Cred- its, and Remarks section 1 tell you what i do when the spectator gives a large number and will not change it. Positioning the Selection Now for a little more jazz. You need to place the chosen card from the top of the deck to the exact number from the top that the spectator has indicated. | use the following patter line to buy @ little time: “is there any reason you choose six?” Usually the spectator’s answer is simply “no,’ though sometimes she will tell you it's her kid's number on his softball uniform or the number of kids she has or the date of her birth. Whatever her FASDIU it Page 40STITT ere || eae | errr For the Laity reason, if she answers you it only gives you more time to perform the following actions and place the cards. Ifthe number you are givenis one, table the deck, as you are alt set. ifthe number is two, | simply side steal any card from the middle to the top. If the number is three or more I proceed in one of two ways depending on the condition of the deck | am using. If the deck is in good shape, then I'll pinky count the exact number that the spectator gives me and then execute a secret slip cut. Generally, i's easier to pinky count a small number of cards. So if the number 'm given is higher than about five, I'll use the count listed as The Lift Get-Ready from Expert Card Technique. With your right hand over the deck use your left second finger to bevel the pack to the left. See Photo Twenty-One in which the right hand has been removed. Squeeze the short ends of the deck with your ‘ight fingers and thumb. This pressure will cause the top few cards of the deck to bow upwards. If you release the pressure of your left second finger, the bowed cards will qui- elly pop off that finger and you may count them. See Photo Twenty-Two. This count may be done very quickly up to about twelve cards. Once you've reached the number that the spectator has given you, obtain a break below those cards. You have a break below a number of cards that corresponds to the number the spectator has given you. Very gently lift up on the inner left comer of the top card with your right thumb and ride the cards below the top card and above the pinky break to the right by extending you left pinky a little. See Photo Twenty-Three on the next page. Like a tradi- tional side steal, you will be able to nip this angled packet between the tips of your right photo twenty-one FASOIU tt Page 41photo twenty-three For the Laity pinky finger and thumb. Be sure that the left Jong side of the top card does not move to the right af all, Grip the whole deck with your right hand and apparently square the long sides of the deck with yout left fingers and thumb. Grip the left long side of the deck in the ctotch of your feft thumb and apparently square the short ends of the deck with your right fingers and thumb. Actually, stide the angled packet out of the deck and replace it onto the deck under the guise of these squaring ac- tions. This is the secret slip cut. The spectator’s chosen card has now been placed at the spectator's chosen number. If the deck I’m using is borrowed and in bad shape, or if I'm working one of those corporate walk around gigs and using the cards so much that they're getting a bit clumpy, l'll sometimes tip the front end of the deck up as | ask for the spectator's number. As | say the “any reason you chose six?” patter line, | open a break in the middle of the deck with my left pinky and use my right thumb to release an appropriate number of cards from the top half of the deck onto my pinky. An appropriate numberin this case is one fess than the spectator’s chosen number. If the spectator says six, | drop five cards onto my left pinky. I then grip these cards with my right thumbtip and angle the entire top half of the deck very quickly to the ‘ight. See Photo Twenty-Four, My feft pinky contacts the inner short edge of the cards below the thumb break and the balance of the top half of the deck is moved back to the left, square with the bottom hall. These actions angle jog the five counted cards. These cards are now gripped from above at their index comers by the right pinky and thumb and a block side steat is commenced. The Dénouement Whatever avenue you take, the selection is properly placed in the time it takes to have the following interchange with your specta- ‘photo twenty-four tor: ‘Do you have a favorite number? A smal FASDIU I! Page 42ETT TPIT IPrPT TIT ERCP TPaN HT PRP reaEH ARC reTRY APP PeTRy A PrearRIL I PRT AT PEDAL HT HEPTRPAT HT CREAT AT AITITAT I IPCRTPRL ITT MPA TIT For the Laity ‘one? ['Three"] Any reason you ike three? {'I've been married for three years tomorrow’] Really? Congratulations!” This is typical of the type of exchange that takes place. Table the deck and recap: “Okay, so you chose any card you wanted to and you shuffled it into the deck yourself. Then you chose three. So if ! snapped my finger over the deck and your six of clubs was the third card from the top, that wouldn't be so bad, now, would 42” The spectator will have to agree. Have her count down into the tabled deck to find her chosen card at her chosen number. As | said above, it is usually afterward that she will realize that you knew the name of the card without having asked her. References, Credits, and Remarks © The Classic Force is described by Roberto Globbi in Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press Inc., 1995, on page 217. e Reference information for the Jerry Kogan’s Glimpse may be found in “Stumped!” © Reference information for the Spread Cull may also be found in “Stumped!” e The Pinky Count is well described by Darwin Ortiz in Danwin Ortiz at the Card Table, Kautman & Greenberg, 1988, on page 11. © The “Lift GetReady" count may be found in Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue, Wehman Bros.Faber and Feber Ltd, Third Edition, on page 4. © Reference information for the Deliberate Steal may be foundin ‘A La Annemann’. ‘© The SecretSlip Cutis an original application of Ed Marto's Deliberate Steal to a small block of cards. ‘© Finally, it the troublesome spectator gives you a number like 22 and will not budge from it. Simply ribbon spreaé the deck and say, “Tiventy-two, huh? Okay!" Take the top card, the selection, and use itto scoop up the spread and cevertly move the selection from the top to the bottom. Deal off 21 ccards and look up al the spectator as you bottom deal on the 22~ card, sailing itn front of her, Have hhertum the card up and ask her, “How did you Know you shutfied your cerd to the weniy-second position? Nico jab!” For this routine, | use the Visual Retention Bottom Deal from the first ...rom @ ‘shuffled deck in use... lecture notes (1986). FASDIU It Page 43M tat Oo I have played with Ed Mario's Elevator ovin n theme for years and years. The following routine is fairly new, about two years ofd at Up the time of this writing. There are two points in the routine at which ! get very strong re- actions from the laity and ! am also enam- ored of the way-ahead set up structure, all of which If point out in the folowing descrip- tion. Effect ‘The performer removes the ace, two and three of hearts and after very slowly and deliber- ately displaying them, places them in a face down row on the performing surface. The deck is placed face down onto the three of hearts and given a soft upward riffle. The three is shown on top of the deck. This rise is repeated. ‘The two of hearts is placed on top of the deck, which is given a soft downward riffle. The two drops from the bottom of the deck. The ace of hearts is placed face up in the middle of the deck and with a wave of his hand the performer causes the ace to appear face up on top of the deck. The three principle cards are again placed in a face-down row on the table and about a third of the deck is placed onto each of them. With an appropriate magical gesture all three fow hearts are shown to be at the top of their packets. Finally the three packets are assembled, separat- ing the ace, two and three by about a third of the deck each. With yet another soft riffle, the three principle cards are in a group at the top of the deck. Method and Presentation ‘The presentational approach for this elevator effect is as a mild challenge. | adopt an attitude suggesting that | will go very slowly and isn’t what happens here cool? So, taking a shuffled deck in use, check first that none of the principle cards (ace, two, or three of hearts) are among the top four cards. De this casually at the point between routines when the audience scrutiny on you is low. If you find one of the low hearts among the top four cards, then use the low diamonds. If you see both alow diamond and a low heart near the top, then you may use a black trio or cut the deck and peek at the top four cards again. FASDIU It Page 44rere] ere |r |e era aera ereeeaeT Re TTTT APT For the Laity Usually, a quick peek confirms that the principle cards are not among the top four and you are ready to go. If the deck is face up in your hands, half pass the bottom three cards, reversing them. If the deck is face down in your hands, execute Ken Krenzel’s Mechanical Reverse to tum the deck face up while reversing the bottom three cards. Spread through the face-up deck and upjog the ace, two and three of hearts as you come to them. While engaged in this quick search, cull any three indifferent cards below the spread. Be sure that you cull the three cards before you reach the third low heart. This, because in order to cull a card you have to be spreading the deck and there is no need to spread further after you have found the third low heart. Once the principle cards are ouljogged, square the deck proper allow- ing the culled cards to coalesce al the bottom. Square the deck a bit to ensure that when you flip it face down that the reversed cards (4%, 5%, and 6" from the top) will not be exposed. Flip the deck face down book wise, the three principle cards stil outjoged. As your right hand swivels the principte cards from the deck, push the top two cards to the right with your left thumb and quickly pull them back, obtaining a pinky break below them. The back of your right hand will momentarily shade the break-procuring actions of your left fingers. The Add-On Holding the principle cards face up, arrange them in order with the ace at the face of the packet. Grip the three-card packet from above in your right hand in preparation of a de- ceptive hybrid of Mario's ATFUS and J.K, Hartman’s Secret Subtraction. Start pulling the ace off the face of the packet and revolve it face down below the packet - jogged to the left photo twenty-five FASDIU It Page 45For the Laity for about an inch. See Photo Twenty-Five. Tun your right hand palm up and down a time or two as you say, “The ace, which will become the top card of this little packet.” Tum the deck perpendicular to the packet and tap the ace flush under the packet. See Photo Twenty-Six. ‘As you bring the packet over the deck to draw off the two of hearts, pick up the two cards below the pinky break under the packet. Revolve the two under the packet as you did the ace, jogged to the left for about an inch. Additionally, maintain a slight right thumb break between the packel and the two. Do not turn your hand palm up and down, as an indifierent card would be exposed. “The two, of course,” you say, ‘Wilf photo twenty-six become the middle card--!'m going very slowly here.” ‘Square the two under the packet by tapping it with the deck as you did the ace. Peel the three around the left side of the packet again, leftjogged for about an inch. Raise your right hand so that is palm is toward your audience, exposing both the two and the three of hearts to them. Perform these. actions as you say, “And the three will become the bottom card.” See Photo Twenty-Seven. Square the three below the packet by tapping the deck against it and then as you look up at your audience, kiss the packet to the deck and drop off the two and three of hearts from below the thumb break, square onto the photo twenty-seven deck. F've found this manner of displaying the three cards fo be quite deceptive, and leaves no doubt in the mind of the spectator that you ate going slowly, that no deception is taking place, and that the packet is in ace, two, three order from the top Grasp the three-cards packet with your left forefinger and thumb as shown in Photo Twenty- Eight. Deal the three cards to the table in a left to right row naming each one as it is tabled and saying, "Ace, fwo, and three.” The three tabled cards are the ace of hearts on the left end of the row, with two indifferent cards to its right. The two of hearts is on top of the deck, FASDIU It Page 46For the Laity followed by the three of hearts. Below the three is an indifferent card followed by three face-up indifferent cards and then the balance of the deck. Establishing the Theme photo twenty-eight the deck. The double card will stay aligned and land on the deck right- jogged for about half or one-third of its width. See Photos Twenty-Nine and Thirty. This double turndown onto the deck is very disarming. Pick up the deck from above and place it into your left hand, squaring the double card. Deal the top card of the deck to the table, place the deck onto it, and repeat the soft upward riffle. Turn the top, single card of the deck face up, this time imitating the actions of the Stuart Gordon Double Lift, Just after the single card turns face up, keep re- volving it between your fingers until it is face down. Press the left long side of the card onto the table and spring! fip/hinge the single card onto the deck You'll now establish for the audience what this rou- tineis about. Place the deck squarely onto the card at the right end of the row, the apparent three of hearts. Softly riffle up the inner end of the deck and stop when two cards remain. Use the Stuart Gordon Double Lift to turn up a double card. As the double card turns face up press its ‘eft long side against the table just to the right of the deck. Now springiflip/hinge the double face down onto photo twenty-nine photo thirty FASDIU It Page 47For the Laity just as you did with the double card moment ago. This time, of course, the three will land face up onto the deck. Grip the deck from above with your right hand at its inner and outer left comers and slip the deck out from under the three as you pick it up. The three will fall to the table in the position it originally occupied. Patter, during these actions, about the soft riffle being the agent that causes the three to rise through the deck. If the tabled double lift does not appeal to you, | sometimes proceed as follows: take the deck from above in your right hand and pick up the alleged three of hearts below it, Place the deck into your left hand and softly rifle up the inner end with your left thumb. Use this overt riffle to secretly obtain a left pinky break below the top cards in preparation for a double lift of your choosing, Execute the double lift to display the three, tum the double face down, and deal the top card (ostensibly the three) back to the table. Repeat these actions exactly, obtaining a break below one card when you riffle and imitating the double litt of your choice with a single card, Deal the face-up three to the table. In either case, the deck will be face down in your teft hand. As you pick up the middie of the thee tabled cards, the apparent two of hearts, pull down on the bottom card with your left pinky, obtaining a break above it. Place the right-hand card onto the deck and immedi- ately rifle down the side of the deck with your feft thumb as your right hand takes over its grip on the deck from above. As the tiffle completes, raise the deck slightly and allow the bottom card fo drop into your left palm, aided by the break you had established over that card. The impression on your audience is that the two follows the riffle and sort of drops through the deck, Table the two face up in position and place the deck into left-hand dealing position. Bring your right hand over the deck and pick up about half of the deck very slightly at the right, long side. Execute a stip cut by moving only your left hand, which takes the bottom half of the deck and the top card away to the left and turns paim down over the ace of hearts. Pick up the ace of hearts with your left fingers such that when you turn you left hand paim up, the ace is outjogged on this packet. See Photos Thirty-One and Thirty- ‘Two, Place the right-hand half onto the left-hand half, the ace still outjogged and face up. Push the ace into the deck with your right fingers, angling it out the right, long side of the deck in preparation for a side stealinto your right palm. “The ace is a bit different,” you say, *with just a wave it comes to the top.” During this patter, execute the side steal and then wave your right hand over the deck, depositing the ace on top as you would in a standard color change. While the first two “rises” are impressive, this one is quite different from FASOIU if Page 48For the Laity them and very visual. Thisis the first of the two moments that | alluded to earlier; you will get a gasp from your audience at this point. The Tri-Rise Usually, given the deck in use, you may press against the outer left cor- net of the top of the deck to create a break at the deck's inner right cor- photo thity-one ner below the three reversed cards near the top. This is Lin Searles’ Autobreak. After having established this pinky break below the three re- versed cards, use the ace to scoop up the two and the then the three of hearts. If the deck does not have an appropriate wave to it and the Searles sleight won't give you an au- tomatic break, then take the ace into your right fingers and use it to scoop up the two and then the three of hearts. While scooping, pinky count photo thirty-two four cards to estabiish the break. Using your right fingers, spread the three heart cards into a small fan and lay them par- tially onto the deck. As you begin to close the fan onto the deck and flip them face down, you will execute Ken Krenzel's Slide Under Switch (with a small technical variation that | have added) as follows: with the fan held against the deck, slip the very tip of your right third finger into the pinky break contacting both the back of the fourth card from the top (femember that this card is face up - that's why | say contact its back) and the inner right comer of the top four cards of the deck. Dr. Krenzel, according to the description of his sleight in The Pallbearer's Review, would allow the cards above the break and below the top card to slide out of the deck below the face-up fan. I have found that if you apply a slight upwards pressure with your right third finger and gently lower the right long side of FASDW it Page 49For the Laity the deck that the three face up cards below the top, face-down card will pivot at their inner |efl corner and angle out of the deck automatically. See Photo Thirty-Three for a view of this action in which the three-card fan of low hearts has been removed for clarity. Photo Thirly-Four shows the same action - covered by the fan of cards. Your left thumb, of course, keeps the top card in place as this auto-jogging action takes place. So, use your right thumb to begin fo push the three and two of hearts to the left over the ace. Simulta- neously use the auto-jogging just described to squirt the three face-up cards below the heart cards. Once you are able to grip all six cards, pull them to the right until their left long photo thirty-three photo thirty-four edges come free of the deck onto the pads of your left fingers. Flop all six cards (as three) face down onto the deck. Dr. Krenzet's is an extremely deceptive switch aided, | think, by the autojoaging feature. When the actions of the last few paragraphs are executed smoothly and without any hitch or pause your audience will have no reason to suspect that you have done anything but fipped the low heart cards onto the deck. Deal the top three cards into a face-down tabled row from left to right. The triple rise effect you are about to perform is borrowed from J.K. Hartman's “Tri-Rise.” Bring your right hand over the deck and slightly pick up about two-thirds of the deck. Execute a slip cut taking the bottom third of the deck and the top card into your left hand while you say, “This time I'l take about a third of the deck for each card.” At the beginning of this patter line, execute the slip cut and hold your left hand up to emphasize “about a third" of the deck. Replace the right-hand stock onto the left hand stock maintaining a pinky break between them. Draw attention to the card at the right end of the row as you execute another slip cut, this time drawing about half of the cards above the break (and below the top card) into your right hand. Drop this packet onto the cards at the right end of FASDIU It Page 50— For the Laity the row. Cut the cards above the break onto the middle card of the row and place the femaining third of the deck onto the card at the left. Give each packet a soft upward riffle at its inner end and flip the top card of each packet face up. A simultaneous triple rise. The Mass Rise Pick up the packet with the face-up ace atop it and place it into your left hand. Flip the ace face down onto this packet. Pick up the “two” packet from above in your right hand, Tum. your feff hand palm down and push the ace off the packet for a half inch or so displaying its index and saying, ‘1’ bury the ace with this packet.” Turn your feft hand palm up, squaring the ace onto the packet and obtaining a pinky break below it. Immediately place the right-hand packet onto the left-hand packet, maintaining the pinky break below the ace. Push the two over to the right and, as you steady the deck from above with your right hand, angle the ace cut of the deck below it with your left fingers. You'll use Bill Simon's britiant idea of a top-card cover for the side steal. As you say, “This means that the ace and the two are separated by 20 cards or so," take the two off the deck with the side-stolen ace below it as your left hand tumns palm left and you draw attention to the long side of the deck, pointing out that the ace is now in the middle ofthis packet. See Photo Thirty: Five in which I've tried to expose the side-stolen ace below the two as well as the angle at which the deck is held. Re- place the two (and the hidden ace) onto the deck and turn the two face down. photo thirty-five Pick up the last of the tabled packets and place it onto the left-hand cards, maintaining a pinky break between the packets. Flip the three face down (“and now the two is about 20 cards from the three’), obtaining a momentary right thumb break below it. immediately cut tothe pinky break (‘and I'l bury the tinee as wel’, overtly burying the three and covertly bringing the ace and two to the top of the deck. Transfer your thumb break to your left pinky. This break will be about two-thirds from the top, and just above it is the three of hearts. Side steal the three of hearts to the top of the deck and immediately execute a FASDIU IT Page 51For the Laity finger or drag fan. Point to three widely separate parts of this fan with your right forefinger as you say, “So the ace, two and three are separated from one another by about a third of the deck.” Softly riffle the inner end of the deck and deal the top three cards face up onto the table to end as you say, “but with one rife, like this, they all come back to the top!" This is the second point in the routine at which | also get quite a strong reaction. References, Credits, and Remarks (My fist exposure to Ed Mario's Elevator theme was in his book, The Cardicien, reland Magic Com- pany, 1953, in an article tied, “Penetration” on page 46. in that book there is also a reference to ‘Sphinx Magazine of 1948. Ken Krenzel’s Mechanical Reverse is described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 4, Her- ‘metic Press Inc., 2000 within an artci titled, “Catch 22” on page 981. See also Harry Lorayne’s Card Classics of Ken Krenzel, Harry Lorayne Inc., 1978, page 207 and Epilogue by Karl Fulves, L&L Publishing, 1983, page 233. Reference information for the Half Pass may be found in “Stumped!” Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped!” Ed Marlo's ATFUS {Any Time Face Up Switch) is well described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press Inc., 1995, beginning on page 208. J.K. Hartman's Secret Subtraction is described in his book Card Craft, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1991, beginning on page 48. Keepinga double card square white turningitover ontoa tabled deck is original with me though other card magicians must have discovered the same phenomencn, Suffice to say itis a very disarming move. Reference information for the Deli rate Side Steal may be found in “Stumped!” ‘Aso-caled standard color change is merely @ matter of dropping a secretly palmed card onto the face of the deck, changing the appearance of the face card. See “The Sde-Slip Color Change" in Roberto Giobb''s Card College, Volume 2, Heimetic Press Inc, 1998, on page 739. Lin Searle's Autobreak technique is desctited by Richard Kaufman in Jennings ‘67, Kaufman & Company, 1997, beginning on page 23. Reference information fer the Pinky Count may be found in“AACAMAN' Ken Krenzel’s powerful and deceptive Slide Under Switch, which I understand to have its roots in a FASDIU II Page 52For the Laity Gill Okal switch, is well cescribed in Kail Fulves’ Epilogue, LAL Publishing, 1993, on page 248, Bill Simon's Top-Card Cover for the sie steal is describes in his book, Eifective Card Magic, Louis Tannen Inc., 1952, beginning on page 112. J.K Hartman's “Tri-Rise" may be found in his booklet Odd Lifts, 1971 on page 3. For the “Mass Rise" section of this routine, top-card cover passes may be substituted for the side steals and cuts that I have described. Piace the ace of hearts packet into your left hand and fip the ‘ace face down, Place the two of hearts packet onto the in-hand packet and immediately execute a top-card cover pass. Tum the two lace down. Repeat with the three of hearts packet. Give the deck a soft upwards rifle and tum over the top three cards. For a description ofthe top-card cover pass, see Roberto Giobb’s Card College, Volume 4, Hermetic Press Inc., 2000, page 984. FASDIU I! Page 53B Te Those of you who do bar magic will agree Ox opper that the “regulars” at your bar, especially those who bring new patrons in just to see you perform, wit want to see a variety of magical routines instead of, what becomes for them, the same old stuff. The routine that follows this one, Just In Case, is a repeat card-under-and-inta-the-box routine that was developed during the past two years over the bar. It is one of the routines that | use more than any other in this manuscript. However, this routine was developed as a variant of Just In Case to assuage the “same old stuff’ feeling among regulars. | do not perform this routine as often as the one that follows, but have had quite good success with it as a variation for those regulars. Effect Three spectators each look at a card in the deck. The performer states that the selections. may be found individually or all at onoe. After demonstrating what the former may look like, the performer decides on the latter. Flicking his wrist he declares that all three selec- tions have been found, Sure enough, one selection is sitfing on top of the previously tabled card box, one selection is beneath the box, and a third selection is found inside the box. Method and Presentation The box shou'd be positioned on the table to your right, short ends angled at one o'clock! seven o'clock, with the open end of the box at the one o'clock point and the bottom short edge of the box at the seven o'clock point. The half-moon side of the box should be against the table, and the box should be closed, flap tucked in. | employ the exact same selection and control procedure as when performing a muttiple selection routine. Dribble the cards from hand to hand as you ask a spectator on your right to say stop. When she stops you, show her the bottom card of the right-hand half. Reassemble the deck and immediately side steal the selection 1o the top of the deck. Repeat this selection and FASDIU It Page 54a aa ea sc ec eases ee sce see eee ee For the Laity control process with two more spectators, moving to your right as they look at cards and you control them, The three selections, then, will end up in 3-2-1 order on top of the deck. With your right hand over the deck, pick up on the top two cards and angle the second card from the top slightly to the right with your left fingers in preparation for a side steal into a right full palm. Now both hands will move at once, each performing an important func- tion Photo thirty-six photo thirfy-seven Move your left hand forward a bit to your left as you turn it palm down in preparation for making a face-up ribbon spread toward you. Leave the angled card in full palm in your right hand as your left hand moves forward. Your right hand positions itself just to the right of the card box, your thumb and forefinger preparing to grip the box at its outer and inner right comers, respectively, See Photo Thirty-Six in which the paimed card is not exposed; and Photo Thirty-Seven, in which the palmed card is slightly exposed. Ribbon spread the deck face up towards yourself as your right hand releases the palmed card next to the box and then lifts the box slightly, moving it over the card and drop- ping it onto the card. Notice in Photo Thirty-Eight, wherein the spectators view would be toward the upper-left cor- ner of the photo, that the box does not completely cover the side of the card that is away from those spectators. The ribbon spread provides more than adequate shade for the under-the-box load. tn fact, subliminal t will ap- photo thirty-eight FASDIU 1 Page 55For the Laity pear that you are only moving the box out of the frame of performance. Also, don't try to cover the card completely with the box as attempting to do so will leave you no margin for error with respect to having the card peeking out from under the spectator-side of the box. Instead, err toward completely covering the spectator-side of the card, allowing some part of the card to remain visible behind the box. As you spread, say, “i's a matter of judging the approximate locations of your cards ...” Use both hands to scoop up the spread deck and place il face down in lefi-hand dealing position as you finish the patter line”... and then zeroing in on them.” ‘As you double cut the top cardto the bottom, say, “Now, lean find yourcards one at a time or all at once.” Pull down on the bottom card with your left pinky, establishing a break above that card. In terms of a pesition check, the first person's selection is on top of the deck, the second person's selection is under the box, and the third person's selection is below the pinky break at the bottom of the deck. Take the deck from above in your right hand, your right thumb maintaining the break above the bottom card. Use your fight forefinger to swing cut the top half of the deck into your left hand. Tum your left hand so that its packet is perpendicular to the performing surface and tap the lef long side of the right-hand packet against the back of the top card of the left-hand packet. These actions mimic a straight cut and are accompanied with patter such as, “For instance, tcould cut the deck directly at each of your cards.” Tum your left hand palm up and execute a face down one-handed bottom deat a bit forward and to your lefl, See Photo Thirty-Nine. As you pick up this card and flip it over with your left forefinger and thumb, your right hand hovers over the card box. photo thirty-nine Since the audience is expecting the tabled card to be a selection their attention will be on that card. Simply drop the broken card from the bottom of the right-hand half onto the card box. Obviously you want fo be close to the card box when you drop the card and in fact, the card and the box might kiss just slightly as the card is released. The actions of your left hand, turning up the card you cut to, will provide shade for the unloading of the selection onto the card box. FASDIU Page 56For the Laity Your left hand is forward and to your left a bit having just turned up the tabled card. Bring your right hand to your left hand, keeping the audience focus away from the box, and place the right-hand cards onto the left-hand cards establishing a pinky break between the halves. Pick up the tabled face-up card and place it face down onto the deck. “But 'd rather find them ail at once, like this,” you say, cutting the deck at the break (ostensibly burying the card you had tabled), and give your left wrist a shake or flick or whatever magical gesture suits your style. Raise your left hand and the deck a bit, staring at it as you say, “There. Done.” Your audience wil! not completely understand what's happened at this point - the trick itse'f has not really started, you've just been giving a little explanation about finding their cards. Therefore, when you tum your attention from the hand-held deck on your lefttto the tabled card box on your right, and they see the card on top of the box, they'll be a bit surprised. Center your left hand in front of you as you look at the box and say, “Al three cards - one on top of the box...” Take the deck from above in your right hand and use your left hand to remove the card on top of the box, tabling it face up in the center of the performing sur- face. As you table this card face up (it is the third selection), use that misdirection to execute a one-hand top palm with your right hand. Continue *..one underneath the box...” Take the deck into your left hand and table it to the left as your right hand picks up the card boxy its short ends from above. Use your left hand to pick up the card that was below the box (this is the second selection) and flip it face up onto the previously tabled selection. ‘And finish the patter tine, ‘... and one inside the box," as you execute Matt Schulien’s card- from-box load. I'l take the description of the box load right out of FUSILLADE: Place the box into left-hand Charlier Cut position at your feft fingertips, and, both hands stil holding the box, begin to turn your left hand palm down. As the flat portion of the box faces to your right, use your left fingertips to pull the palmed card against the box and continue turning your left hand palm down. Remove your sight hand as soon as the card has been trans- ferred from the palm fo the outside of the box. Flip open the flap of the box and insert your right thumb into it, your right fingers automatically extended below the box and FASOIW Ht Page 57For the Laity against the hidden card, Slip the card from beneath the box as if having taken it from within the box and display it. There is a certain casuat familiarity with which the card should be removed, ‘a certain confidence. Don't try to convince anyone that the ‘card is coming from within the box, just (as Harry Lorayne and Nike are wont to say) do it! ignore your guilt. If it looks as if you're taking it from the box and it sounds as if you're taking it from the box and you're saying that you're taking it from the box, then they'll think it came from the box. To support the illusion, | always use the following psychologt cal ploy: insert the just-produced card face up halfway into the box. The spring in the flap of the box wil hold the card in place. ‘See Photo Forty. Table the box in this condition and anyone who ponders the discovery during the remainder of the routine will see the card inside the box, subliminally assuring them that it was indeed found inside. Toss the box, with the card extending from its opening, onto the other two selections, to end. photo forty References, Credits, and Remarks © Fora bit more detail on the selection and control procedure used here see FUSILLADE, A Treatise on the Multiple Selection Routine, Cummins and Eason, 2000, beginning on page 27. FASDIU It Page 58For the Laity Reference information for the Deliberate Steal may be found in “Stumped!” Heba Heba Al is generally credited with the card-under-glass routine, though | don't believe his routine to be in the published record. The actions used here to load a card under the box are those used by Heba Heba Al to load a card under the glass that have been popularized by J.C. Wagner, ob Sheets, Doc Eason, and others. ‘The Double Cutis described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press Inc. 4995, beginning on page 85, ‘The One-Handed Bottom Deal is well descrited by Stephen Hobbs ia the book Gene Maze and the Att of Bottom Dealing, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1994, beginning on page 32. Jean Hugard's One-Handed Top Palm is described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 3, Hermetic Press Inc., 1988, on page 705. Matt Schutien’s Carc-in-Sox Load may be found in The Magic of Matt Schutien, by Phil Wilmarth, Ireland Magic Company, 1958, on page 26 ("The Card In The Card Case’). Predating Mt. Schulien, however, is Ed Mario's “Mario's Card to Card Case" from his booklet, Deck Deception, LL. Ireland, 1942, page 19. Guy Holingworth’s card-under-andinto-box routine, “Three Cards under a Box," may be found in his book, Drawing Room Deceptions or the Etiquetie of Deception, Mike Caveney’s Magic Words, 1999 beginning on page 243. The Chris Powers routine, “Your Card, My Card, Anybody's Card," may be viewed on the Laid Back Too vileo, undated. FASDIU tt Page 59J I've performed the following routine over a USt I CAC | isons tines tro ost wo yours, De- veloped for and at the bar, ithas been serv- ing me extremely well. When t began doing bar magic again, | felt that ! couldn't call myself a bar magician unless ! was doing some form of the card-under-glass routine. Heroes of bar magic - Heba Heba Al, Doc Eason, J.C. Wagner, Bob Sheets - have alt featured the routine. There was for me, however, one little hitch. | was scared to death! How, even with massive misdirection, could | possibly get away with it? It seemed impos- sible that no spectators would see the card on the bar through the clear glass atop it. So, | figured I'd crawl before | walked, as the saying goes, and opted for the card box as the vessel under which the card would be found instead of a glass. The box provided much, much more cover and was opaque. In the jate nineties | had seen the wonderful Chris Powers of England perform a repeat card under box routine that was astounding. There are portions of Chris’s routine, though, that did not suit my performing style and I also wanted io work my way up to card-under-glass, and Chiis’s routine was not readily adept- able from the box to a glass. So, { set about working up my own. routine; one that suited my presentational and technical styies. The following routine is a fooler, it is modular (the performer has five opportunities to stop the routine, a handy feature when bartending), it aflows for the performer to show off some flourishy technical ability, and it takes up very little space on the bar. Perfect for me! Effect ‘An audience member selects a card notes it, and if is returned to the deck. After some fancy shuffles and cuts, the performer repeatedly fails to find the selection. Finally, the selection is found hidden below the card box that has been on the bar or table since the outset of the routine (the routine may be stopped here). The card is returned to the deck only to be found under the box again (the routine may be stopped here). Finally, and despite strict scrutiny, the card is found inside the box (the routine may also be stopped here). The card is again retumed to the deck and, again, despite strict scrutiny, is removed FASDIU I Page 60For the Laity from the box by the spectator (of course, the routine may be stopped here too). Lastly, the selection is placed onto the deck and immediately given a snap - the deck is now under the box and the selection is the only card in the performer's hands. Method and Presentation ‘The above description of the effect includes allof the possible modules as | perform them. Usually the routine is over after the selection is removed from the box for the second time - by the spectator. The selection may be signed, though | don't recommend it and I'll explain why later in the References, Credits, and Remarks section. Module One - The Card Under the Box To begin the box should be positioned on the table as in the previous routine, “Box Top- per.” It should sit on the bar or table to your right, short ends angled at one o'clock/seven ‘o'clock, with the open end of the box at the one o'clock paint and the bottom short edge of the box at the seven o'clock point. The half-moon side of the box should be against the table, and the box should be closed, flap tucked in. Have a card selected by someone directly in front of you or slightly fo your left. Do not have the card selected by someone on your right as you will be addressing the spectator who chose the card while you load the card under the box and addressing the spectators to your right will cramp up your movements and hinder the natural shade that would other- rovided. After everyone notes the selection, spread the deck between your hands and have it retued to the spread. Obtain a break below the selection as you square the deck Just as the deck becomes square, angle the selec- tion out of the right Jong side of the deck with your A left fingers. See Photo Forty-One. With the card j anglejogged, raise the deck to your left fingertips and continue to square it, first moving the deck for- ward as if squaring its long sides with your left fin- gers. Without pause, and continuing the squaring motion, slide the deck toward you. While executing these typical squaring actions, you should be say- > photo forty-one FASDIU It Page 61For the Laity ing, “Ah - twenty-seven cards down, @ nice spot,” as if you can instantly count how far down in the deck the selection has been placed. As the deck is moved back towards you, allow your left pinky to contact the angled, short end of the protruding card (see Photo Forty-Two), If you straighten your pinky as the contact is made, the card will angle farther out of the deck until its sitting just betow your right palm as in Photo Forty-Three. At this Point tlt the front end of the deck downward a bit and bring attention to the left long side of the deck in support of your apparent ability to judge the exact location of the selection. photo forty-two Lower your right hand slightly until it can grip the angled card between the right pinky and the base of the right palm in full palm position. Move your left hand away, forward and a bit to the left - leaving the palmed card in your right hand. Itis very important to move the left hand forward first as your spectator’s eyes will instinctively follow that hand (the moving object), As you tum your left hand palm down to ribbon spread the deck face up towards yourself, move your right hand with its palmed card to the right of the card box. As in “Box Topper.” drop the selection to the right of the box and smoothly move the box over the card, a distance of about two inches. Since you moved your left hand first, and since that hand performs a face-up ribbon spread with the deck, there is plenty of misdirection for the under-the-box load. Remember, as in “Box Topper,” you want to cover most of the card that is toward your audience and leave a bit of i! exposed on the side of the box that is, nearer to you. ‘As you ribbon spread you must also continue the patter, ‘So, / need to judge the location of your card.” Here you should move both hands toward the face-up spread and display FASDIU It Page 62For the Laity them as in Photo Fosty-Four, apparently isolaiing the spot at which you have estimated the selection to be positioned. Notice that in Photo Forty-Four, not only are your fingers framing a section of the ribbon spread providing focus for your audience, but your forearm is also providing maximum shade for the loaded box. Pick up the spread deck and flip it face down into dealing position in your left hand as you say, “And this is how | do it.” This is the juncture at which you may show off some of the flourishes you have worked so hard to team. You should perform a muttiple-sequence, two-handed cut (I use a variation of Herb Zarrow's “Swivel Round-A-Bout’) and then flip photo forty-four the deck face up. “Was yourcard the nine of clubs (naming the face card of the deck)?” You will receive a negative reply. Ex- ecute @ color change and say, “How about the queen of hearts?” Again, you will get a negetive response. Flip the deck face down ard perform a double lift and turnover, “The ien of clubs?” Again a negative response. Turn the double face down and take the top card off the deck. Give ita spin, snap, or whirl, tum il face up and say, “How about the ace of diamonds?" Yet another negative response. ‘/ might have missed, "you say, ‘what was the card?” Now, a few points about the activities that take place in the above paragraph. First of all, after having said with such confidence that you know the selection is at a certain depth from the top, and after saying you will judge ts position, you have gone on to miss the selection four times in a matter of seconds. I find that most spectators do indeed believe that I've erred, and they're beginning to think might be in trouble. That's good. Addition- ally, you have performed a very fancy and impressive sleight-of-hand multiple cut, a star- {ling cotor change, and the change of the top card of the deck. This is heady eye candy for your audience. This mini-flurry of card changes and flourish is not lost on your audience and even if they think you have missed their selection, they will remain impressed with your magical prowess. Importantly, interest is very, very high at this point. After the spectator names her selection feign a bit of surprise. “OH!” you say, “The ace of FASDK It Page 63For the Laity hearts! | keep the ace of hearts over here under the bor.” The box should be near your Tight elbow on the bar or table. Do not move your hands toward te box yet! Instead, point at the box with your left forefinger and fook down at it. Once audience attention has turned to the box, push the top car of the deck to the right a bit and then pull it back establishing a pinky break below it. Lit the box with your right hand from above, exposing the face-down selection. Place the box onto the deck in your left hand and pick up the selection with your right hand. Flip it face up and sail it 10 the bar or table in front of the spectator who had initially chosen it, in front of you or to your left. There will be great interest in the face of this card to see ifitis, in fact, the lost selection. As it sails to its position in front of the spectator pick up the bex from above and carry along with it the top card of the deck - this action made easy and smooth by virtue of the break you had established. Without looking, table the box (and the card below it) in the exact location it had previously occupied. Since you are holding the box and the card from above, itis a simple matter to cover the indifferent card completey with the box. However, | stil move the box very stightly forward as | place it onto the table in order to minimize the possibility that any of the card peeks out from below the box in such a way that the spec- tators could see it. I never end the routine at this point but it is certainly possible to do so if for some reason your performance is interrupted {the waiter brings the food, other patrons need a drink or to pay their bill, etc.). In that case, of course, | would not preload the indifferent card below the card box. Module Two - The Card Under the Box Repeat Pick up the selection and slide it into the front end of the deck. Spread the deck between your hands, the selection still outjogged, and raise the spread so that the selection faces the spectators as you say, “There is only one ace of hearts in the deck...” These actions beg the spectator's attention, thereby drawing attention away from the tabled box again. “So,"you continue, as you lower your hands and square the sides of the deck, “you have a few options. You can watch the box or my hands - BUT...” Here you have pushed the cutjogged card into the deck, simultaneously angling it tothe right in preparation for Marlo's Deliberate Side Steal. Begin the execution of the stealimmediataly, bringing the selection to the top of the deck, all as this patter ine is spoken. After you say, "BUT..." stop all hand FASDIU It Page 64For the Laity activity and wait for the spectator to look at you. Sometimes she will do so right away, but usually her eyes will be glued to the deck and you may have to wait a few seconds through a slightly uncomfortable pause until the spectator does fook up. As soon as the spectator looks at you, finish your sentence, *.. don't fook up! When you look up, it goes!” Look down at the box. Your audience will look too and you'll hear them saying things like, “no way.” Slide the box forward with your right forefinger, exposing the face-down indifferent card. As you slide the box forward, establish apinky break below the top card of the deck as you did earlier. This top card is the selection. Pick up the indifferent card and place it onto the deck, square, Execute a double lift and turnover exposing the selection. If necessary you may end the routine here. Just flip the double card face down and cut the deck to bury it. Module Three - The Card in the Box Flip the double card face down onto the deck. “1 do it one more time,” you say. Take the top card and slip it into the inner end of the deck, face down. Hold your eft hand near the bar or table top and, if necessary, move the box to a position about four inches from your left hand, See Photo Forty Five. Lift the box to display that no card is below it, ‘tts not there yet." Flick the injogged card, “You can still see ii.” indicate the distance between the injogged card and the box, “And it's ony going about four inches. This time, | might add, under far more scrutiny than the last two fimes, watch closely.” Use your right forefinger to jam the injogged card home into the deck. Ask, “Did you see it go?” The spectators will be watching very, very closely al this time and since virtualy nothing has happened they will always respond negatively. photo forty-five Slowly liftthe box and say, “Itdidn't go." Pause just a beat and continue, “Butthat wouldve been a heckuva trick?” This line will should get you a good laugh, and | always lean well forward as i sayit The laugh, and the forward body movement provide all the shade that FASDIU I! Page 65Forthe Laity is needed to top palm the selection into your right hand. “Actually,” you say, ‘it did go." Table the deck and pick up th box with your right hand. Execute Schulien’s card-in-box effect (described in “Box Topper’) as you finish the patter line and this modute, with, “But this time it went info the box." As before, return the selec- tion partially into the box (let about an inch of the card protrude} and close the lid of the box behind the selection. Table the box in position for the Schulien card-to-box load. The reaction you'll get to the card having gone into the box should ride on the coattails of the laugh you just elicited. It’s a nice presentational double punch. Although | think the following module is the strongest finish to the routine, ! usualty end it here if 'm behind the bar. There is almost always some other bartender-retated function that mustbe attended to after this amount of time has been sfent on one routine with one set of spectators. If you have time, however, try the following module. Module Four - The Card in the Box Repeat With the presentational double-punch having just transpired, your audience will certainly assume that the routine is over. During this downtime pick up the deck and palm a card in your right hand. The face of the card must be against your palm. As an apparent after- thought you will give the impression that you are letting the audience in on the secret. Say, “Actually, all have to do is pick up the box, take your ace of hearts out of the deck, slip it into the box, close the box, and put it back down - all without you seeing me do it." At first your audience may think you are letting them in on a secret though they'll soon realize that you are kidding them - to execute ali that activity unseen right under their noses is ludi- crous. During this patier, perform the following actions: pick up the box with your right hand from above, squaring the selection into the box itself. Repeat the Schulien card-to-box load, loading the palmed indifferent card under the box, Open the lid of the box and bend it back onto the box until you are able to hold the flap under the base of your left forefinger as in Photo Forty-Six. Slip the selection out of the box and tumit face up as you nameit. Stide the selection back into the box, pursuantto the patter. Allow the lid of the box to spring out from below the base of your left forefinger so that it hangs cver the opening to the box. Pause only briefly as you look up, continuing the patter. Now, without looking down at the FASDIU It Page 66SS = For the Laity box, slide the indifferent card from below the box as if it were the selection. Close the lid of the box with your left forefinger and table the 20x. photo forty-six Slide the indifferent card into the near short end of the deck as you did earlier. Lift up the box (“it's not there yet"; fick the injogged card (“you can stil see ithere’); jam the injogged card home with your right fingers and ask, “Did you see it go?" All this is performed as if you are executing the ridiculous actions you ad just described. The spectators usually don’t know how to react at this point. Some will think you are still kidding, some will he thinking, “did he actually just do it again?” In either case indicate the box by pointing to it and nodding at it. Most spectators will pick up ‘he box and open it to find the selected card again - this time under unspeakably strict concitions. Sometimes, however, and this is the outcome | prefer, the spectator will pick up the box and lock below it, thinking that the card may be under the box again. At this point, while the box is stil in their hand, you should say, “No - inside the box!” The spectator will of course open the box they are holding to find the selection inside it again - a very strong surprise since they were only expecting the card to be below the box. Module Five - The Deck under the Box This module is only performable under those circumstances in which the crowd is reacting very rambunctiously to the routine, and specifically to the very last production of the card in the box. As they react, use that reaction as misdirection to pick up the box, close the flap, and place it onto the deck. Pull down on the bottom card of the deck, establishing a pinky break above it. Pick up the box, and the deck below it, and place them te the table welt to your right Reach forward with your right hand to pick up the card (or take it from the FASDIU It Page 67For the Laity spectator), As you reach forward with your right hand, raise the lone card in your teft hand upwards a bit and tilt the front end of the card downwards. See Photo Forty-Seven. In this position the card will be taken as the full deck at a glance. Proceed briskly! Hinge the selection face up onto the left hand card as if placing it onto a deck. “The hard part,” you say, ‘is not getting your card under the box...” Use your right hand to press the left hand cards to your left palm and pick up the double card at its inner cotners between your right thumb and second finger. Apply pressure with your forefinger on the face of the double card andimmediately release the card(s) from your second finger causing them to snap between your forefinger and thumb, giving the impression of a single card, The face- up card below the selection should bew facing towards your body, hidden. Direct attention to the box as you finish the patter line, “..its getting the entire deck below the box!" Take the double card into your left hand and take the box off the deck. Taking the double card from your left hand from above, place it onto the deck as you pick the deck up with your right fingers. Flip the setection face down onto the deck to end. photo forty-seven References, Credits and Remarks e The first change to make in this routine that may occur to some of you is to have the selected card signed to aly any suspicion that duplicate cards are in use, The reason that | don't have the card signed is that the litle flury routine of changes in Module One would be ine'fective ifthe card were signed. | played with having the card signed after it was found under the box, but the rhyshm of the routine wes upset. Il, inthe middle of the routing, someone in the audience suggests that] musthave two (or morel) cards that are the same, | simply say, “Only one Seven of Spades, f¥ show you," and at the end of the routine leave the cards with them and say, “Take a fook, just one Seven of Spades.” e Although | clearly favor the two Sice Steels used in this routine as direct “unmovable” methodology, {you may place the selection into the deck and shuttle it secretly to the top for a Top Palmin the first ‘module and simply shutfleit to the top in preparation for a Double Lift in the second module, © have described the routine as performed at the bar. However, all one needs is the table space usually taken up by a falr-sized close-up mat though no actual mal is necessary). I've performed the routine at Trade Shows, and while tablehopping at corporate banquets with greal success. FASDIU if Page 68N k Chad Long is a good friend and among the O SOK Jie tented magicians, both presentationally and technically, that I have ever had the privilege to know. On his sec- ond video is @ terrific routine called Talk to the Hand. For that routine, Chad employs three duplicate cards to very strong effect. | wanted very badly to perform the routine but as is my nature, | was reluctant to carry with ime the three duplicates. As a result | worked out the folowing routine, which has become a favorite of mine. There are, of course, trade-offs. On the one hand, Chad's routine is quite a bit cleaner and more convincing than what you ate about to read. On the other hand, this routine mirrors Chad's terrific effect and may be performed ... with a shuffled deck in use. Effect ‘The performer displays the jokers from a deck and tables them. A spectator is asked to cover the jokers with her hand. Giving the deck a series of cuts the performerimpressively cuts to the four queens. One of the queens is placed below the spectator's hand with the jokers, “The queens, the performer says, “do a very cool trick, watch. "The performer taps the spectator’s hand with the cards he holds and turns them face up. instead of queens, the performer now holds the two jokers. All four queens are found below the spectator’s hand. Method and Presentation The four queens must be atop the deck befare you begin. The top two queens must be of different colors as well. Usually, | set the queens a few routines in advance of performing “No Joke" and then keep track of them during the performance of the subsequent rou- tines. A simple example of this approach is to put an indifferent card on top of the queens before performing “A La Annemann’. After completing “A La Annemann* bury the selec- fion in the middle of the deck, the queens are still on top. FASOIU tl Page 70For the Laity Establish a break below the top two queens end turn the deck face up while executing Krenzel's Mechanical Reverse. Alternatively, flp the deck face up and half pass the two bottom cards. The Jokers Spread through the deck and outjog the jokers, commenting that there are two in every deck and that they usually don’t look the same; that one is referred to as the full joker and the other contains a guarantee for the deck itself. ‘Square the deck proper, leaving the jokers outjogged. Strip them out, flip them face down and slide them below the face-up deck. Flip the deck face down into your left hand, Press down on the outer left corner of the top joker and use the natural curvature of the deck to establish a pinky break below the top four face-up cards (Lin Searles’ AutoBreak). Spread the top joker to the right with your feft thumb and point out the differences in the jokers - one is a full joker and the other contains a guerantee. Indicate a spectator and ask her to be the holder-of-the-jokers. Flip the top four cards face down as two and push the new fop two cards face down inta your right fingers. Place these cards onto the table close to the spectator and have her cover the apparent jokers {actually two queens) with her hand, The Queens Lift the deck with your right hand and swing cut the top half into your left hand. Turn your {eft hand so that your palm is facing to your right, this half-deck perpendicular to the floor. ‘Tap the left long side of the right-hand cards against the top card of the left-nand cards and then table the right hand cards. Drop the remainder of the deck onto the tabled half. This is a simple, two-packet false cut thatis qu te deceptive. Pick up the deck and execute a hit triple lift, exposing 2 queen. Flip the triple card face down and deal the top card, a joker, to the table, The simple patter is, “Ii! give the cards a single cut, and, I get a queen, ‘not bad, not too bad.” Liftthe deck again and swing cut haifinte yourleft hand, Dribble the right-hand cards onto the left-hand packet, injogging the first cards dribbled. Square the deck, establishing a break below the jogged cards. Cut the deck atthe break and execute another hit tripte lift, FASDW tI Page 71exposing another queen; this one of a different color than the first. Do not refer to the suit of each queen as you produce it, simply refer to them as queens. Flip the triple card face down and deal the top card (a joker) onto the previously tabled card (the other joker). Dur- ing these actions say, “Here's @ double cut, and an- other queen.” Execute The Frank Thompson Triple Cut as follows. Position your right hand in hindu shuffle position and grip the lower third of the deck with your right fingers and thumb, See Photo Forty-Eight. Draw this thitd of the deck out and bring your right hand over your left, cocking your right wrist and turning its cards perpen- dicular to the left-hand packet. See Photo Forty-Nine. Use your right thumb and second finger to lift up the top half of the left-hand cards below the right-hand packet. Stide the top packet of the two in your right hand below the left-hand cards, leaving them ouljogged for about a half-inch. See Photo Fifty. Place the re- maining right-hand cards onto the top of the left-hand cards, injogged for a half-inch. See Photo Fifty-One. This is a three-way, or triple-packet false cut. For the Laity photo forty-eight photo forty-nine Square the deck and tum up the top card, imitating the actions of the hit triple lift to maintain consistency. The exposed card will be the first queen you cut to earlier. Don't FASDI if Pago 72 photo fifty-oneFor the Laity hurry, but don't pause - flip the queen face down again and deal it onto the other apparent queens on the table. The simple patter is, again, “Now a triple cut and if!'m lucky - yes, a third queen.” Perform any false cut that involves four packets or four steps, as you say, ‘Here's @ one, two, three, four way cut, and another queen. I'm having a lucky day!” Flip up the top card, a queen, and then deal it face down to the table. The cut | use is Gerry Griffin's “Blind Swivel Cut’. Cutting to four queens is impressive, so don't rush through it just to get to the kiler effect that is to follow. Toa layman your card handing willlook fancy and they will be impressed that you were able to cut to the four queens, especially if you had secretly set them a few routines earlier. Table the deck and pick up the queen packet. You must execute a displacement to change the order of the queen pecket in preparation for the Larry Jennings Rhythm Count. Spread the cards in a small fan with your left fingers. Take the top two fanned cards into your right fingers. Simultanedusly with each hand spread the top card of each pair forward and the lower card inward. See Photo Fifty-Two. Place the outer tip ofthe top card of the right-hand pair onto the inner tip of the ower card of the left-hand pairas in Photo Fifty- Three. By pushing the right-hand pair forward and the left-hand pair inward you will find ita simple matter to insert the top card of the right hand pair between the left-hand cards and the lower card of the left-hand pair between the right-hand cards. See Photo Fifty-Four. The displacement is quick and flourishy, taking just a second. Square the four-card packet, establishing a break below the top two cards. You are just finishing the patter line, “I'm having a lucky FASDIU It Page 73 photo fifty-fourFor the Laity day!" Continue, “1 got one queen an the single cut, one on the double cut, another on the triple cut, and the fourth on the four-way cut.” It is during this patter that you perform the Rhythm Count as follows: double lift and turnover, exposing @ queen (‘on the single cut’). Flip the double face down and deal the top card to the table. Take the next card into your right fingers and tum your left hand palm down, exposing the queen at the bottom of that two-card packet (‘on the double cut"). Turn your left hand palm up and as you turn your right hand palm up, displaying its card as a queen (‘on the triple cut’), thumb the top card of the feft-hand pair onto the tabled card. Turn the right-hand card face down and drop it onto the pile of cards forming on the table. Turn your left hand palm up, exposing yet another queen (‘on the four-way cut’), and then deal this card face down onto the tabled pile. Importantly, your emphasis is on the one, two, three, and four-way cuts. This, com- bined with Mr. Jennings’ deceptive Rhythm Count, will atiow the two queens to pass as all four - remember never to mention the suits. The Odd-Packet Transposition Pick up the four-card packet and establish a break below the top two cards. Double lift and turnover, exposing a queen. Place the queen onto the lefi-hand packet, face up. Ask the spectator to lift her hand. Take the double card in a grip that will allow you to turn it face down and deal it onto the apparent jokers in one motion. The Stuart Gordon lift fits per- fectly. Once the double card has been placed face down onto the apparent jokers, have the spectator lower her hand onto this packet. “The queens do a coo! trick,” you say, “Tit give you the queen of diamonds.” Perform a two-as-three count as you say, “Which leaves me with the heart, club, and spade.” Grip the two left-hand cards at their inner right comer with your right fingers and use your left thumb to draw the top card into your left hand. As you apparently count a second card you actually exchange cards. Put the last right-hand card onto the left-hand ‘Card 16 COMMpIete thie count Asa mnemonic, I always name the queen of the same color but opposite suit of the queen I've given the spectator and then name the two queens of the opposite color. Using this little mnemonic prevents me from stumbling or hesitating on this patter line. Grip the two left-hand cards at their inner right comer with your right fingers and tap the back of the spectator’s hand with them. Turn your left hand paim down and grip the outer left corner of the right-hand cards, thumb on top, fingers below. See Figure Fifty-Five. FASDIU It Page 74For the Laity Bend the short ends of the cards down and take the top card in your left hand, allowing the cards to spring off one another as you turn your right hand palm down and your left hand paim up. The two jokers will be facing your audience (see Photo Fifty-Six) - a startling transposition. The spectator, of course, will find all four queens below her hand. photo fitty-five photo fifty-six References, Credits, and Comments © As | mentioned, this routine is a technical rehandiing of Chad Long's “Talk to the Hand” from his second video, The New Chad Long Video (2001). My purpose was only to eliminate the duplicate cards and take the routine into the reaim of FASDIV. "No Joke" is included here with Chad's kind permission © Reference information for the Mechanical Reverse may be found in “Movin' On Up". © Reference information for Lin Searies’ Autobreak may be found ia “Movin’ On Up". © Reference information for the Hil Double Lift may be found in “A La Annemann’. To execute a Hit “Triple Lift, simply grab a third card with your right forefinger as it "hts" the side of the bevelled deck. ° ‘The three-way cut described in this routine was shown to me by a New York City magician at a one- day convention inthe mid-seventes. While I cannot find the cut anywhere in print, Herb Zarrow has told me that its the invention of Frank Thompson. © ~The four way cut | use in this routine is actually a three-packet cut that happens in four countable steps. Itis Gerry Griffin's Blind Swivel Cut foundin the December 1995 Issue of MAGIC magazine on pages 74 and 75, © Larry Jennings’ Rhythm Count is desciibed by Mike Maxwellin The Classic Magic of Lary Jennings, L8L Pubishing, 1986, beginning on page 186. FASDIU Hi Page 75For the Laity ‘The two-as-three count used in this routine is Eis Stanyon’s and is well described by Stephen Minch In The Cofected Works of Alex Eimsley, Volume fl, La. Publishing, 1894, on page 126. Other examples of working a few tricks around a small stock of cards would include “Counting On tt,” “Flasher, “The Invisibie Card,” "Commercial Universal,” and“Anather Sequestered Collectors’ from the first FASDIU notes. If you look, you'l find that many of your favorite card routines do not upset the topo bottom third of the deck. These are gcodroutines to use just prior to a routine that uses asmall stock. FASDIU It Page 76 .Here's a routine that Chad would say that NO Mercy J irre ccnesontogenee tm etog ro that this routine is 90% pure Chad Long. | suggested a few touches and added a kicker that suits my style, but this is visuat smack, full-bodied, take-no-prisoners, Chad Long magic at its best. Those of you who know Chad or have seen him pertorm understand that he has no mercy on his audiences when it comes to killing them with magic and healing them with laughs. This has become an absolute favorite routine of mine and ! describe it here with Chad's gracious permission. Effect The performer spreads the deck faced down and the spectator indicates four of them. The four chosen cards are seen to be an indifferent array of various suits and values and are then tabled in apile. The spectator notes a card in the deck proper and the deck is placed aside. “These four cards,” the performer states, indicating the stock of indifferent cards, “wil fell me what card you noted in the deck. The first one tells me your card is black, the second one tells me it's a spade, the third tells me it is a five, and the last card verifies that itwas the five of spades. How am | doing?” During this patter the four indifferent cards are shown to be four dupiicates of the selection. Instantly, the same four cards are shown to be the four aces as the performer says, “what these don't teil me is how they could be the aces, which means your card must be...” The deck is spread and everyone looks to see if the selection is in the spread. However, the four-card packet is now comprised of just a single card - the selection. The aces are gone. Continuing, the performer has the specta- for cut the dack into four packets in an attempt to find the aces. Sure enough, the specta- for herself cuts to the aces and is congratulated for her consummate skit. Method and Presentation Begin with the four aces on the top of the deck. As is my habit, | usually arrange for this stock a few routines in advance and then work around the stock during the subsequent FASDIU 1 Page 77For the Laity routines, Switching in the Aces Begin to spread the face-down deck, as if for the selection of a card. Slightly injog the fourth card from the top as you spread and ask the spectator to stop you. When the spectator stops you, outjog a card and continue spreading as you ask her to say stop again. Outjog another card when she says stop. Repeat this little procedure two more times until four random cards are outjogged. | usually spread fairly slowly to start so that | don't run out of cards after the second or third card is outjogged. Also, after the second cardis jogged | say, “Tivo more, "so that the spectator knows this isn't going to go on much longer. You must now switch the four outjogged cards for the aces and table the aces ina pile. | do it one of two ways, and I'l describe both. The preferred method (and the method that Chad uses) is Chris Kenner's For 4 For switch. As you bring your right hand over the deck to pivot the outjogged cards from the deck, use your right thumb to lift up slightly on the injogged ace fourth from the top. Immediately establish a pinky break below this card and, therefore, the four aces. Flip over the four cards that you have removed and hold them in a small face-up fan in your right hand. Turn your left palm toward the tight, bring the deck perpendicular to the floor. Bring your hands to- gether, placing the left long side of the leftmost card of the fan just over the long side of the deck. See Photo Fifty-Seven. With your left pinky, widen the break, drawing the four aces away from the deck for about a half-inch. Start to turn your right hand patm down and press the leftmost card of the fan into the break with your left thumb. See Photo Fifty-Eight. Allow the fanned cards to slip into the gap between the aces and the deck as photo fifty-seven photo fifty-eight FASDIU It Page 78INF For the Laity your right hand continues to tum the fan face down (into the break and under the aces) and your left hand turns palm up. Performed smoothly, this is an incredibly deceptive switch. Deal the top four cards, ostensibly the stopped-at cards but actually the aces, to the table in a facedown pile. | should mention that | also use some patter to direct the audience away from the cards momentarily so that they only actually see the hand actions of the four-as-four switch peripherally. As | tum the four stopped-at cards face up in a fan in my right hand 1 name each card. Then I look up at the spectator and say, “The good news is that Fm not going fo ask you fo remember af these cards. * This usually gets a litle laugh as the spectator relaxes and, of course, when they laugh they look up. It is at this point, during our eye contact, that | execute the Kenner switch. In those situations where the spectator is burning my hands and does not react to the abovementioned direction, | use the following alternative switch. IF the spectator does not look up during the above patter line, extend it by saying, ‘Four randomly selected cards: an eight, a king, @ two, and a six." During this patter you should square the face-up fan while resting it momentarily on the deck, simultaneously picking up the aces beneath the packet. Draw the first card off the packet with your lefl thumb and revolve it face down below the packet. Keep a slight right thumb break between this card and the packet proper. Pursuant to the patter, name the value of each card as you revolve it face down below the packet, After the fourth card has been revolved, kiss the packet to the deck and unload the cards below the break. Drop the right-hand packet, ostensibly the stopped-at cards, actually the aces, to the table. Selection, Control, and Transferral of the Selection Whichever switch you use, immediately grip the deck from above with your right hand and place your left thumb at the outer left comer of the deck prepatory to rifling down that comer. | usually extend my hands toward the spectator and over the tabled packet. Rifle down the comer of the deck asking your spectator to stop you. When she does split the deck at that point and raise your right hand, exposing the face card of the packet it holds. Say, “This one, though, | do want you to remember.” Show the card to the company and teassemble the deck establishing a pinky break below the selected card. FASDIU #! Page 79For the Laity Angle the selection out of the deck, gripping its outer Tight and inner left comers between the tips of your tight pinky and thumbtips, respectively. See Photo Fifty-Nine, Lower the deck to the table just to the left of the pile of face-down cards. When the deck is about two inches from the tabletop, draw the selection out of the deck and onto the four-card tabled packet. See Photo Sixty. Leave the deck on the table with your left hand as your right hand picks up the packet with the selection having been added atop it. Draw the top card of the right-hand packet into your left hand, followed photo fifty-nine by the second, third, and, lastly, the double card. Form afan with these cards as you count them into your left hand. The patter for these actions is: "These four cards will actually tell me what card you looked at that's in the middle of the deck.” photo sixty This setection, control, and transfer sequence is very quick and deceptive. In fact, the last move used, the Vernon Transfer, is so deceptive that the spectators will not perceive the packet and deck to have come near one another. Humor and Dupes, the First Four-Card Change ‘Square the four-card fan in your left hand and execute Brother John Hamman’s Flushtration Count to display four cards as duplicates of the selected card, to wit: pick up the packet FASDIU It Page 80For the Laity from above with your right hand. Tum this hand palm up to display the card on its face. Turn your hand and the packet face down and draw the top card into your left hand, Repeat these actions two more times, displaying two more apparent duplicates of the selection, Turn your right hand patm up, holding the last two cards as one and displaying ‘their face, and then plop the double card onto the left-hand cards. This is a funny sequence because of the patter that is used. As the first duplicate of the selection is displayed (assuming the selection is the nine of hearts), you say, “This first card felis me that yours is red.” Turn your right hand paim down and pee! the top card of the packet into your left hand. There is a small reaction to this card being the selection, but you'll see your audience quickly stile their surprise to hide it from you. Display the nine of hearts again, saying, “This one tells me your card is a heart.” Briskly finish the flushtration count as you say, “This one falls me its a nine and this one confirms your card is the nine of hearts.” By the time you are done, the spectator's surprise will have tumed from stifled to palpable. The surprise factor and the incongruity of seeing four duplicate cards is what elicts the laughter. Without pause say, “How’m { doing?,” simultaneously drawing a four-card block from the bottom of the packet and placing it on top. It appears as if you subconsciously cut the packet. Your spectators will be say things like, “You're doing great,” and “That's it alright!” Aces - The Second Four-Card Change As they make these responses, establish a break below the top two cards of the packet. | use a pinky count. Grip the packet at its outer and inner left corners with your right thumb and second fingers, respectively. Turn the packet face up, pivoting its right long side on your left fingers. The flesh of your left pinky finger will cause the cards on either side of the break to separate ({his is Mario's Pivot- Jag Tumover). Grip the double card that has angled to the right with your right fingers, thumb on top and fingers below as in Photo Sixty- One. As the packet is turned face up, you should be saying, “What they don't tell me is how they can actually be four aces." Use yout left fingers to spread the other three aces lon- photo sixty-one FASDIU H! Page 8fFor the Laity gitudinally. See Photo Sixty-Two. This is the apex of the routine and elicits a stunning response. Since your audience is stil absorbing and reacting to the four duplicate selec- tions, this change, folowing so close on the heels of the first change, smacks them squarely in their senses of wonder and reality I's a head-shaker. The Selection Again - a Four-to-One Change ‘Square the aces into a face-up packet and pull down onthe bottom card (the selection), establishing a pinky break above it. Perform Marlo's Pivot-Jog Turnover again, turing the packet face down and angling the aces to the sight under your right hand. This angling puts the aces in perfect position for Vernon's transfer, which you wil repeat. Bring your hands toward the tabled deck as you turn the packet face down and say, “And if these are the aces, then your card must be... pause)” Execute the photo sixty-two Vemwun Transfer, dropping the aces onto the deck, as you ribbon spread the deck to your right. Simultaneously move your left hand, with the fone selection, a litte to your teft. Tap the ribbon-spread cards with your right fingers as if spreading them a bit to find a card. Finally, give the selection a few flicks with your left fingers, bringing attention to its singularity. Look at the card as you say, “..right here!,” and turn the selection face up. Table it. This series of changes is so quick and inexplicable that | frequently get an f’m-not-sure-f- can-take-too-much-more-of this type of reaction. The Cool Down Pick up the ribbon spread cards and hold them in left-hand dealing position. Palm the top two cards in your right hand and extend your left hand with the deck as you lean forward. Ask the spectator fo cut off about half of the deck and table it. As she tables her half, replace the palmed cards onto the left-hand packet. Place your packet onto the table to the right of the spectator's cut haif, and inwards of it - nearer yourself. Ask the spectator to cut off about half of her packet to the right. Then ask her to cut about half of the other FASDIU It Page 82For the Laity packet to the left. These actions will create a two-by-two matrix of quarter-decks. The forward right packet and the near left packet each have two aces atop them. Now you'll provide a cool down petiod for the spectator's emotions before you give them yet another climax to this routine. Say, ‘Let's recap. You chose four random cards. They changed into four fives of spades. Those fives changed into four aces, and the aces changed into this five of spades. The question remains: where are the aces?” This patter line is a long one with no activity taking place. That's okay, your audience will need a breath-catching moment. You'll find them nodding with you as bring the various changes back and they replay thern in their minds. The Aces Re-emerge “Well,” you continue, “I'm not sure you knew you had itin you, but you just nailed all four of those aces. Great job!” Here you show that the spectator herself has cut to the four aces by employing Father Cyprian’s “Swindle Cut Aces” tuse. As you look atthem, the far right and the inner left packets each have two aces atop them. Grip the top ace of the far right packet with your right fingers at its outer short end and gtip the top ace of the near left packet with your left fingers at its near short end. See Photo Sixty-Three. Turn both aces face up end-for- end - but do nottum them onto their own pack- ets, tum the left-hand ace face up onto the outer-left packet and the righthand ace face up onto the innet-right packet. Without pause, grip the inner end of the ace atop the outer right packet with your right fingers and the outer end of the ace atop the inner left packet with your left fingers. See Photo Sixty-Four. Turn each of these aces end-for-end onto their own photo sixty-three photo sixty-four FASDIU It Page 83For the Laity Packets, to finish. Father Cyp’s ace production seems glaringly discrepant, but will breeze by any observer - especially one who has experienced the various changes in this routine. Your mastery of the pasteboards will have been established, so be sure to extend your hand to the spectator and congratulate her on cutting to the aces. it's a nice way to share the spotiight. References, Credits, and Remarks Chiis Kenner's For 4 For switchis described in iis book, Totally Out of Control, Kaufman and Green- berg, 1992, beginning on page 46. Reference information for Marlo's ATFUS may be found in "Movin’ On Up". ‘The Vernon Transfer is described in ..from a shufied deck in use.... Cummins, 1996, within the article “Another Sequestered Collectors,” and on the Up én Smoke video. Mario's Pivot-Jog Tumover seems to have an interesting history. Atfhough not dated, the small book- let Six Ticks by Tenkai by Robert Parrish and published by Ireland Magic Company does include Tenka'’s technique of turing a small packet over while holding a pinky break in order that the cards atthe break flare cut and stay aligned (take another look at Photo Sixly-One}. Marlo's move, called the PivotJog Tumover by Jon Racherbaumer in Card Finesse (D. Robbins & Co.,Inc., 1982, pages 70-72), is almost exactly the same as the Tenkai technique. The only difference that | see is that the Tenkai move uses only the feft hand while the Marlo move uses bath hands, the right hand holding the inner and outer feft comers of the deck as its tuned over. Reference information for a Top Palm may be found in “Just In Case". Father Cyprian’s “Swingle Cut Aces” may be found in The Etegant Magic of Father Cyprian, by Frank Garcia, 1980, on page10. FASDIU It Page 84FASDIU Il For the Magi...R . This is a personalized version of Peter ‘ed H errin g Duffie's routine, “Thoughts on the Bottom.” 7 In that routine, Mr. Duffie britiantly applies L oca tio n @ couple of botiom deais to an estimation method to locate @ freely selected card and then adds @ mindreading presentation. lim- mediately saw the potential for his routine as another in a string of impossible loca- tions that | like to do for fellow magicians. All | have added to Duffie's routine are a few red herrings and a method-cencellation theme (o take magicians down the proverbial garden path. in keeping with accepted no- menclature, | will refer to the magician for whom you are performing as the “spectator.” The Effect The Performer has his fellow magician shuffle the deck, cut to and note a card, and give the deck few more cuts. Key cards, forcing, marked cards and estimation are ruled out as tracking methods during the actions used to select the card. The performer takes the shuffled deck and deals a row of six ar seven cards, asking if the selection is among them This is repeated until a small group is dealt that contains the selection. The performer correctly divines the selection despite there having been no method for him to do so. Method and Presentation Have the deck thoroughly shuffled and then tabled. In fact, borrow a fellow magician's deck to cancel the marked deck methodology. Patter, ‘Just (o be sure that I haven't some- how seen the botlom card, give the deck a couple of straight cuts.” Have your spectator do so. This is red herring #1, which cancels both the memorized or prearranged deck and the key card methods. Now take a few steps back and ask that the spectator cut off a group of cards, turn them toward himself and note the card that he cut to. Have him replace the packet and square the deck. Stepping away is a helpful ruse when using estimation - you appear to be standing too far away to get any glimpse of the card, but this line of sight actually makes it easier to see the side of the deck and facilitates your estimation! If your FASDIU Il Page 87For the Magi magician-spectator is hip to the wiles of estimation this should tip him off that estimation is in use Of course, as he cuts to and notes his selection, you must estimate his cut off portion. Make no bones about the fact that you are appearing to judge where his cut was - you're about to cancel out estimation as a method! By the way, if you step away far enough you will also cancel the marked-deck method, although these location effects are best done with a borrowed deck. Step over to the deck and pick it up from above in your right hand. As you dribble the cards into your left hand say, “I know that this smacks of estimation..." To square up the dribbled deck, use Marto’s All Around Square Up motions. The All Around Square Up is a simple maneuver that you may already do out of habit. Simply grip the deck from above with your right hand and lift it slightly from your left hand. Rotate the deck end for end, turning your right hand clockwise, while resting the face of the deck lightly against your bent left forefinger. Let the deck settle into your left hand after it has been rotated end for end 180 degrees. In the process of this rotation, you will be able to sight the bottom card of the deck as In Photo Sixty-Five. Do so. photo sixty-five Once it is square (and after having secretly glimpsed the bottom card), table the deck as you continue pattering, “.. so why don't you give the deck a straight cut (he does), and another straight cut at a different place (he does), and another.” This is a crucial moment in the routine, If the spectator doesn't realize you have peeked the bottom card, then he will never be able to reconstruct the location, Also, make the spectator cut the deck four or five times, until it's almost annoying (the “Lazy Man's Card Trick" syndrome). After the cutting | usually say, *! don't know about you, but | couldn't have followed an estimate through all that cutting.” This is red herring #2 that cancels the estimation method. Pick up the deck and spread its faces toward you as you look for the key card you that you glimpsed earlier. While you do this, say, “Now, if/ could read your mind, I'd just run through here and place your card on the table...” Suiting actions to words, split the deck with the FASDIU Il Page 88For the Magi key card at the face of the left-hand half and gesture with the right-hand cards as if you were going to place a card onto the table. “But, 1 need a little help.” Replace the right- hand cards at the back of the left-hand cards, bringing the glimpsed key card to the bottom of the deck. This cutting process, motivated by the patter, brings the deck back to the order it was in prior to the spectator's tabled straight cuts — and after you estimated where the spectator cut to note his selection. Still holding the deck, give it a straight cut about three cards below where you estimate the spectator had cut when he looked at his selection. Be sure to cut below your estimated spot, as you want all of the target cards of your estimated group on the bottom of the deck. This is very important! Take the tace-down deck into your bottom-dealing grip and deal the top six cards face up onto the table in a right-to-left spread. Say, ‘It may not seem like it but I'm actually going to speed things up by doing this ... is your card in this group?" If the spectator responds affirmatively, then you have missed your estimation, and you must fish for the card. If he responds negatively, then sweep up the spread cards and table them face down to your right. | always deal the first group all from the top, with no bottoms. This allows me to check that my estimation was okay. More on this ina moment. Duffie's Devilish Ploy Now deal another six cards into a face-up spread on the table but deal a bottom on the fifth deal. The bottom-dealt card is from the target estimation group and may be the selec- tion. Ask if the selection is in this group. If you get an affirmative response, then the selection is the bottom-dealt card. If you get a negative response, then sweep this spread up and discard it face down to the right with the first pile. Continue in this manner, dealing six-card spreads onto the table (and always dealing a bottom on the fifth card) and asking if the selection is “in this group?" When your spectator responds affirmatively, then you know that the bottom-dealt card is the selection. This is Duffie’s brilliant use of the bottom deal to narrow down an estimated group to a single selection. Now that you understand what part the bottom deal plays, you'll understand why | don't bottom deal the fifth card of the first packet. If you deal that bottom on the first packet, then you cannot be sure if the selection is the bottom-dealt card or if you missed your estima- tion (cutting the selection to the top instead of near the bottom), and the selection could FASDIU It Page 69For the Magi then be any of the cards in the spread. This is also why | cut about three cards below ‘where | think the spectator had cut — for insurance. Table the deck proper with the discards and pick up the six-card packet that contains the selection. Use this important patter: “So, you shuffled and cut the deck, and we made sure that | didn't know where a single card was in it. You cut to and remembered a card, and then you buried it. There is no way for me to know anything about your card, in fact, it's as if just walked into the room! Finally, you helped me to narrow it down to this little pile of cards. | believe your card is...” Reveal the selection in any way that you wish. | usually just remove the selection and table it face down, placing the balance of the packet with the discards as { use the above "walked into the room" patter line. Then | ask that the spectator name his card, and | slowly turn it over. | use this presentation to reveal the card because this is one in a string of about five impossible locations that | perform one after the other, and almost all of the revelations are of this type. Don't let the bottom deal scare you. Yes, you'll have to deal some bottoms, but remember that your spectators looking for his selection, so while you're dealing the bottom, his brain is absorbing the face of the card you've just dealt. This is built in misdirection. | usually deal the cards forward and to my right and overlap them toward the middle of the working surface. This gives a sweeping motion to my deal, which helps to cover the bottoms. As usual, with bottom (or any false) deals, rhythm and sound are far more important than perfect technique. Also, don't forget that last patter line. You are reminding the spectator that the deck was shuffled by the spectator, itis not a marked deck, there was no key card, and that estima- tion was not used, a sea of red herrings! , References, and Remarks e Peter Dultie's routine, “Thoughts on the Bottom,” may be found in his book, Card Compuisions, Kautman and Greenberg, 1995. on page 232 e Estimating the portion of the deck that the spectator cuts off is actually quite simple, However, some excellent information that may help a performer new to estimation may be found in Ed Marlo's book- jet, Estimation, 1862, which represents Chapters 13 and 14 of his Revolutionary Card Technique FASDIU it Page 90For the Magi series. Marlo's All Around Square Up is actually a method of maintaining a jogged card or cards while apparently squaring every side of tne deck, The All Around Square Up motions, however, allow for a very deceptive glimpse — as used in this routine. Mario's sleight is described in his booklet, The ‘Multiple Shift, 1961, on page 11. This booklet represents Chapter 11 of his Revolutionary Card Tech- nique series, ‘Al Koran's Lazy Man's Card Trick is a wonderful routine that is practically designed to tes! the pa- ttence of your audience as you repeatedly ask them to cut the deck after having noted a card. in this routine | use the repeat cutting as both a form of time-misdirection and to cancel the estimation method. Mr, Koran's routine may be found in Harry Lorayne’s Close-Up Card Magic, Louis Tannen Inc., 1962, on page 199. There are many, many descriptions of various bottom dealing techniques across the lterature. | use Marlo's Master Grip from his Seconds, Centers, Bottoms, undated, on page 7 (the 8°, 9°, and 10" Chapters of his Revolutionary Card Technique series) The booklet also contains 2 great variety of bottom deal techniques, My bottom deal for this effect is very swoopy and slappy. ! actually fake the bottom card from the inside of the inner-right corner of the deck and slap it onto the tabled row, the \ops are dragged off the deck by my thumb. The deals noisy and sort of slopoy, but it works wonder- fully for this routine. Remember: everyone's locking at the spread of dealt cards you are forming on the table and not at your dealing! Also, remember that the magicians watching will have no idea that the target group of cards on the bottom of the deck and will therefore have no reason to be looking for or expecting bottom deal — ignore your guil! Another outstanding source for bottom deal tech- nique, tips, hints, and work in general is Stephen Hobbs’ excellent book, Gene Maze and the Art of Bottom Dealing, Keulman & Greenberg, 1994. Finally, this routine is clearly to be performed for magicians only. The point of itis to cancel meth- ds for locating the card until no methods remain - methads to which the laity should not be privy! FASDIU Il Page 91This i8 the second version of Almost Any A A C. A A A N Card At Almost Any Number that | per- form. This, again, is usually one I save for those 3 a.m. lobby sessions at the con- ventions or at any late-night session. The Effect A magic buddy looks at a card in the deck. The deck is repeatedly shuffied and cut. losing the selection. The performer states that at this point he will not change the position of a single card and asks the spectator for a number. The performer deals to the spectator- chosen number to find the selected card Method and Presentation The real trick to nailing another magician with this routine is to fool them with the control of the selected card. Towards the end of the routine, near the dénouement, you will need to execute a double deal, which, though easier and more covered than a bottom deal, is executed under cover of some pretty good shade. The Selection and Control Take a shuffled deck in use and begin to spread it from hand to hand. This should be a slightly messy spread, not a surgically neat one. Also, do not spread the first few cards into a full-grip position in your right hand as is usually done. Instead, the right long side of the first card spread should land at the juncture of your palm and fingers as you begin to. spread from hand to hand. See Photo Sixty-Six. Ask your fellow magician to say stop. When he stops you, separate the deck and raise your left hand, pushing the top card of its packet to the right so that it may be noted. Bring your hands together to continue to spread the left-hand cards into your right hand, FASDIU I Page 92For the Magi culling the selection below the right-hand cards slightly. Do not attempt to pull the card far below the right-hand spread, just cull ita half-inch or so under the lowermost of the right-hand spread cards. Immediately and somewhat haphazardly spread the remain- der of the left-hand cards into your right hand Use as little rocking motion, usually associ- ated with the spread cull, as you can. Keep your right hand still and emphasize the left- ward pushing motions of the cards from your left hand. Once all of the cards are held in your right hand, do not square them yet. Direct attention to the point at which the selection apparently lies. See Photo Sixty-Seven, Now square the deck. If you can keep your right hand still and make all leftward motions with your left hand as it spreads its cards to your right hand, then some subset of the universe of magicians will not recognize the motions of the spread cull and will believe the selec- tion to be in the middle of the deck. When you square the deck, then, they will not be completely sure how, or if, you are control- ling the selection. As you point out the area in the deck where the selection should be positioned, say, “Your card is right about here.” Photo sixty-seven photo sixty-six "So," you continue, ‘let's give these a bit of a mix,” and table the deck as for a tabled riffle shuffle. You will now combine a running cut sequence with any amount of tabled riffies Until you think your audience of magicians cannot follow the action. They may believe you are controling the selection, but ideally they will not know how or, more importantly, to where. Lift the deck at its right side with your right hand, preparatory to a running cut. Grip the left side of the cards with your left fingers. Pull the bottom 10 cards or so from the bottom of the deck with your left fingers and drop it to the table. Quickly pull off the top 10 or so cards and drop them onto the tabled group. Continue taking small groups from the top of the FASDIU I] Page 93For the Magi deck and dropping them onto the tabled packet, in running cut fashion, until the deck is depleted. This is a very déceptive false running cut that protects a bottom stock. | first ran into it in a Bob Irons item from Roger's Thesaurus. Looking up and addressing the spec- tators as you make the first cut will add some misdirection as they will usually look at you, but they will peripherally and/or subliminally recognize that the actions of a running cut have been commenced After the running cut, table riffle the cards keeping the bottom card on the bottom, a simple matter. | usually shuffle a few times, then execute the false running cut again and | keep up the patter, looking at my audience rather than the cards, for quite a few minutes. | also adopt the attitude that it really doesn’t matter where the selection is - it's a8 if, for just this trick and this audience, the selection really does get randomly shuffled into the deck While this may seem a bit silly, if you start to believe it yourself, your body language and attitude will convince some subset of the magician universe that the card really is not under control Finally, square the deck and take it into dealing position in your left hand, The Spectator’s Number Say, “Your card could be anywhere in the deck, name a number from one to fifly-two; but make @ good, double-fisted, fwo-digit number.” This is a great line ftom J.K. Hartman, It gives the impression that you are asking for any number from one to fifty-two while you are actually steering the spectator to a number from ten to fifty-two (“two-digit number”), and, usually, to a number higher than twenty ("a good, double-fisted”). Whatever the num- ber, remind your audience that you are not changing the position of a single card and repeat their chosen number to them. Look down at your hands and begin dealing cards singly to the table. Focus all of your attention on the pile you are dealing and make sure that if the spectators look at you, all they'll see is the top of your head. Count out loud as you deal, About five cards from the chasen number slow down the deal and make it very clear that you are dealing from the top of the deck. With some finality, deal the last card onto the tabled pile as you say, “Twentty-One!,” or whatever the chosen number. As you deal the final card use your left hand to set up for whatever bottom deal suits you. Immediately after dealing the final card look up, as if coming out of your focused reverie, and say, "Twenty-One, right?” Your FASDIU it Page 94For the Magi audience has litle option but to look up at you and answer. As they do, execute a double deal (the top and bottom cards together), and say, “Twenty-Two!” Some subset of the universe of magicians will entirely miss the false deal and assume yau dealt the twenty - second card from the top. Table the cards you hold to the left of the pile you counted and slide the counted pile a bit to the right as you say, “Il show you why | counted 22 cards.” Pick up the top card of the counted pile, the pile to your right, and flip it face up onto the left-side pile. "There's the twenty-second card," you say, Slowly and sleightlessly take the next card from the counted pile and move it face down between the packets, “There's the twenty-first card.” Flip the top card of the same pile face up onto the pile, "And there's the twentieth card.” Continue, “Are either of these cards your selection?” You will get a negative response. Tum the face-up cards face down onto their respective packets Ribbon spread the right-side packet vertically as you say, “In fact I'm glad you didn't chose numbers one through 20...” Ribbon spread the left-side packet, “..or the numbers 22 through 52. I'm glad you chose the number 21." Pick up the face down sélection and ask, “What was the card you looked at?” As they name it, allow the card to fall face up to the performing surface. See Photo Sixty-Eight. Notice in the description you have just read that there were three times that | said “some subset of the universe of magicians” may miss the deception. Certainly if the magicians for whom you are performing (or laypersons) miss all three of those deceptions, you will completely foo! them. itwill appear as if they somehow named the exact position to which acard had been randomly shuffled. if the magi- cians miss any two or even only one of the de- ceptions, they will still have trouble with their ret- rograde analysis. When | do perform this rou- tine for laypersons | usually extend my hand for ahandshake after the selection falls face up onto the performing surface and congratulate them on finding their card under such unbelievable circumstances. photo sixty-eight FASDIU il Page 95For the Magi Credits, References, and Remarks Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped!” ‘Bob irons’ Botton Running-Cut is described by Roger Crosthwaite in Roger's Thesaurus, L&L Pub- lishing, 1994, on page 104 ‘The Double Deal is well described by Stephen Hobbs in the book Gene Maze and the Art of Bottom Dealing, Kaufman & Greenberg, 1994, beginning on page 23. FASDIU ti Page 96CHOICE In Arthur F. McTier's book, Card Concepts, ‘An Anthology of Sequential Principles within Card Magic, he describes not only what he calls the °X- 1 = Position” principle, but also an effect using that principle: “6" Sense,” | tinkered with the routine, dropping Mr. ‘McTier's presentational angle, and attempt- ing (as he had) to disguise the principle while fooling my fellow magicians. Though not the fastest moving routine for the laity, | do perform this for them when I have an unusually attentive, challenging audience. The Effect A spectator shuffles the deck and uses a randomizing procedure to select a card, No one knows the name of the card as the spectator is merely thinking of it. The deck is reshuffled and split into a few packets. All but one of the packets are eliminated. From the final packet the performer deals two cards to the table. The spectator removes a card - there is no condition placed on which card the spectator eliminates. This is repeated, each time the spectator having complete control with regard to which of two cards is tossed away. Finally, one card remains. The performer has not seen the face of a single card since the spectator shuffled the deck. The spectator has made every decision with respect to which cards would be eliminated - yet the final card is the very card that the spectator is thinking of. Method and Presentation Okay, if you take the above effect description literally, ! have cheated a bit. However, the above description does accurately reflect the impression that is left on the spectator. The Selection and Control Have a spectator fully shuffle a deck in use. When performing for magicians ask them to shuffle their own deck thoroughly. After their shuffle, insist that they give the deck a straight FASDIU it Page 97For the Magi cut to ensure that you could not have had a chance to glimpse the bottom card. Once they are fully satisfied, have them table the deck. Ask that they cut off a small group of cards, “not more than a dozen.” Have them move the cards below the table or behind their back and count them, remembering this random number. Have them keep the cards hidden out of your view. Pick up the deck proper making it clear that you are not peeking at any of the cards. ‘IW show you some cards while counting them out loud. Please remember the card that lies at your number. Since | could not know how many cards you have cut off, this becomes a random way for you to select a card.” Hold the top card of the deck up so that they may see its face and you may not as you say, “For instance, if you had cut off one card, then this is the card you would remember." Deal the first card to the table and show the specta- tor the second card, counting “Two” and saying, “if you had cut off two cards, then this would be the card you remember, okay?” Table the second card onto the first. These simple instructions will insure that the spectator follows the requirements of the "X -1 = Position" principle. Turn your head while you count and display the top eight cards. After tabling the eighth card ask, “Do you have one?” If the spectator agrees that they are thinking of a card, then turn back toward them and slide the tabled cards onto the deck proper, Give the deck an overhand shuffle, injogging the first card (aver the eight-card stock) and shuffling off, Es- tablish a pinky break below the injog, if, when you ask the above question after dealing eight cards, the spectator indicates that they do not have a card yet, then continue dealing up to the twelfth card. Slide these cards onto the deck proper and overhand shuffle as above. in this case, of course, you have a pinky break over a 12-card stock instead of an eight-card stock “Im going to make some small packets, “you say, “to speed things up. You'll see what } mean." Without losing the pinky break over the eight-card (or 12-card) stock, begin to spread the deck a little and then quickly square it, as if changing your mind. Say, “Oh, we have to add your cards back into the deck.” Grip the deck from above in your right hand, your right thumb taking over the break. Dribble the cards below the break into your left hand and extend it for the replacement of the spectator's hidden packet of cards. After they have been replaced onto the lefi-hand packet, dribble the remainder of the right-hand cards, injogging the first card dribbled so that you may establish a pinky break above the FASDIU Il Page 98For the Magi cards that had been replaced. You'll now split the deck into five packets, one of which will contain exactly nine cards with the selection at its bottom. ff you had jog shuffled over an eight card stock, proceed as follows: spread off about half of the cards above the pinky break and table them. Spread off all the cards above the pinky break and table them in a separate pile, Push off three groups of three cards without altering their order and table this nine-card packet, also separately. Split the remainder of the deck into two packets and table them both. Ifyou had jog shuffled over a 12-card stock, proceed as follows: spread off about half of the cards above the pinky break and table them. Spread off all the cards above the pinky break - and four more cards - and table this packet, also separately. Push off three groups of three cards without altering their order and table this nine-card packet separately. Split the remainder of the deck into two packets and table them both. In either case, remember which is the nine-card packet. This packet also has the “ran- domly" selected card at its bottom. The more casually you are able to spit the deck into these piles - especially when counting out the nine-card packet, the more fooling will be the effect. The above may read a bit complicated though it is quite simple in execution, Earlier in the routine, if after displaying eight cards to the spectator you do not ask them if they have a card already, and instead just show them all 12 cards, then you needn't bother with re~ membering if you have jog shuffled over an eight or 12 card stock - itl always be 12. ! do itas described because | hope to eliminate counting the extra four cards when I'm spitting the deck into piles. You'll now use Roy Baker's PATEO force to insure the use of the nine-card packet, which Tl call the target packet for now. “We have some decisions to make, " you say, “and this is how we'll do it. 111 point to two packets and you decide which of them we will put aside.” Point to any two non-target packets, Have the spectator indicate which packet should be taken away and place it aside, Now you'll switch roles. Have the spectator point to two packets. If neither packets the target packet, then just remove either of them. If one of the packets that the spectator paints to is the target packet, then indicate that the other should FASDIU It Page 99For the Magi be removed. Switching roles again, you point to two non-target packets and have the spectator remove one of them. Two packets remain. Ask the spectator to point to “any two packets." This will usually get a bit of a laugh as the spectator has no option but to point to the two remaining packets. Remove the non-target packet “Up to now," you say, ‘I've had a hand in some of these decisions, although you ultimately directed the removal of every packet.” This is a lie, but just Keep on talking, “Now, how- ever, every decision is yours - { will not participate in any of the remaining choices.” Deal the top two cards of the target packet fo the table, separated by a few inches. Ask the spectator to remove one and put it with the growing pile of discards. As he does, drop the target packet onto the card that was not chosen and pick up the packet again. Deal the next two cards to the table and again have the spectator remove one of the cards, after which you drop the target packet onto the card that was not eliminated. Repeat this a total of four times, emphasizing that the spectator has complete control, which is true The in-hand packet contains five cards and the top card of the packet is the selection. Deal the five cards into a face-down, overlapping row as you say, “Let's see, five cards to go - remember these decisions are all yours to make." Pick up the little spread and repeat the spectator-choice-of-two-cards actions twice more. Reverse count the cards in your hard “Three cards left,” you say. This reverse count positions the selection at the bottom of the three-card packet you hold. Deal the top two cards to the table and have the spec- tator take one away. The card in your left hand is the selection. Use it to scoop up the tabled card that the spectator did not select for elimination. J usually mix these two cards in my hands a bit, keeping track of the selection. Now take one of the cards in each of your hands and ask the spectator to take one. fhe takes the selection, toss the card you hold onto the discard pile. If he takes the non-seleotion, just say, “..and put it with the others.” By now, of course, your spectator will have anticipated that the lone card will somehow be his mentally selected card. The anticipation, however, will be fraught with a feeling of helplessness. After all, he has seemingly made each and every decision with regard to which cards were eliminated. To underscore this discord, you recap:, "Remember, you shuffled the cards. | have not looked at the face of a single card since we started. You have made every single decision with regard to which cards have been placed aside. And, you alone are merely thinking of a card, no one else could possibly know what itis, i's in your head. What is the card you are thinking of?" When the spectator names his card, ask him to turn over the card in his hand (or, you turn up the FASDIU Il Page 100For the Magi card you are holding), to end If your spectator is a magician and is not familiar with the “X - 1 = Position” principle, then he will have no clue at all as to how he eliminated every card but his own mental selection. If the spectator is familiar with the principle, then your acting ability and the apparent haphazard way in which the spectator’s counted and hidden packet is added to the deck and the nonchalance with which you tabled the five packets will serve to confuse his retrograde analysis of the routine. Credits, References, and Remarks © Frank McTier’s routine, 6th Sense, may be found in his book, Card Concepts, An Anthology of ‘Numerical & Sequential Principles within Card Magic, Lewis Davenport Limited, 2000, on page 96. e The Jog Shuffle is described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 1, Hermetic Press Inc, 41995 beginning on page 44 . The PATEO (Point AT Two: Eliminate One) Force, aocording to Mr. McTiet, may be found in Ken DeCourcy's 33 Tricks with the PATEO Force, Supreme, 1980, FASDIU i Page 101Jennings display have seen print. 1 came 93 up with most of the following routine in the early nineties and revamped it three or four ygars ago. While I think this routine looks very good and is deceptive, fora lay crowd I'd just as soon use “Personal Stop" (a ver- sion of Sid Lorraine's “Slop Shuffle’) from the first ...from a shuffled deck in use... fecture notes. To taypersons, in my opinion, the slop shuffle effect is virtually the same as an in-hands riffle triumph effect. So, forthe laity 1 stick with "Personal Slop’, but for magicians this in-hands version of Vernon's “Triumph” has what | think are a couple of terrific “shows,” as we call them. TR Ii U iM P, 1a] Quite a few versions of in-hands Triumph routines using the Bill Goodwin/Larry é The Effect ‘A magician buddy selects a card and remembers it. The selection is returned to the deck and one half of the deck is shuffled face up into the other, face-down, hall. After an appro- priate magical gesture, all of the cards are shown to face in the same direction with the exception of the selected card. Method and Presentation Take a shuffled deck in use and execute Homer Liwag’s False Faro Shuffle. As the deck coalesces after the shuffle, establish a break between the packets. Alternatively, establish a break at the exact center of the deck via Marlo's Faro Check or via simpie estimation. Your estimation must be spot on, however, fo ensure smooth handling a little later. Selection, Smothered and Guided Half Pass, and Control With a pinky break at the exact middle of the deck, spread it face down for the selection of a card. Spread only the top half and cull any card below the spread as you extend the spread to your magician-buddy spectator, After a card has been selected, push the spread FASDIU II Page 402For the Magi toward your left hand to square it. However, as the spread cards are pushed to the left, curl your left forefinger under the deck and half pass the lower half of the deck (the cards below the pinky break) using the spread cards as cover. Additionally, guide that lower half between the culled card and the spread as the deck is squared. Since you must maintain a pinky break between the face-up bottom half and the face-down top half after the spread haif pass, it is helpful to injog the bottom few cards of the right-hand, spread cards just prior to executing the half pass. Use the injogged cards to establish a pinky break be- tween the halves. Even magicians are susceptible to missing the spread half pass; not only because it is a very well covered sleight, but also because they will be looking at the selection to remember its name and, perhaps, showing it to the balance of the company. The previously culled indifferent card is face down at the bottom of the deck, The selected card having been noted, retrieve it with your right hand and insert it into the pinky break. As you insert the card, imitate the actions of Tilt. | usually even use the Charles Aste Jr./ Howie Schwarzman ruse of poking a few cards out of the front of the deck momentarily to convince my onlooking audience of magicians that Tilt is underway ~ just make sure that you execute the ruse with cards that are above the pinky break. Tiltis not underway, of course, the selection is slid right into the gap between the halves of the deck formed by the pinky break. Leave the selection injogged from the deck for a bit less than half of its length. Spin the deck 180 degrees on its horizontal plane so that the selection is now outjogged. This will clearly demonstrate for your magician audience that Tilt was not in use, giving them just alittle bit of a surprise. While they are thinking about that, raise the deck to eye level displaying the faces of both the bottom card and the outjogged selection, Spread the top half of the deck widely, exposing an array of faces to your audience as you say, "You could have chosen any of these,” or some such. See Photo Sixty-Nine in which the faces of the bot- tom card, the outjogged card, and the spread of cards are all visible. This display has a strong subliminai suggestion that all the cards in the deck face the same way - especially if your au- dience did not absorb the fact that you had ex- ecuted a spread half pass (and because at that very moment they are reacting, psychologically, photo sixty-nine FASDIU It Page 103For the Magi to the fact that no TILT was used). Lower your hands, squaring the spread. As you square the outjogged card, angle it out of the right side of the deck under cover of your right hand. If you like, turn the deck end-for-end using the mechanics of Marlo’s Moveable Jog to maintain the known position of the selection. | always use this ruse, just in case there is a magician who is not aware of its existence - to them, the deck seems to have been completely squared, suggesting that the selection is not under the performer's control at this point Whether you have used the mechanics of the moveable jog to turn the deck end-for-end or not, establish a pinky break above the jogged selection. Flip the cards above the break face up and jogged forward onto the lower half. Grip the lower half in hindu shuffle position with your right hand and slide it out from below the face-up half. Straddle faro the face-up cards into the face-down cards. This straddle faro, by the way, is the reason for establish- ing a break in the exact middle of the deck earlier. To get into the Goodwin/Jennings Display, the top and bottom card of the apparent face-down half must not have been shuffled into the other half of the deck. By having established the pinky break at the exact middle of the deck, the right-hand half of apparent face-down cards will have two more cards than the left-hand, face-up packet (the original half-deck plus the culled card and the selection). Thus, there is no chance that the top and bottom card of the apparent face- down helf will be shuffled into the face-up half. It's a small point and requires little effort, but I never run into trouble at this point because of the simple precaution of establishing that mid-deck break earlier. Push the halves together until about a third of each packet is jogged. Lay the forward portion of the elongated deck into dealing position and pull down momentarily on the bottom card of the inner partion with your left pinky. Put your right first and second finger into the break formed and slide them forward until you may grip the entire deck at its shuffled juncture. Keeping the pulled-down card in place, drag the elongated deck toward you until the bottom card is square with the outer half of face-up cards. Riffle down the outer left corer of the face-up cards with your left thumb, mindful not to fiffle all the way to the last card which is secretly reversed. Turn your left hand over and take the elongated deck with your right fingers. Turn your left hand palm up and place the deck into it again. Now riffle down the outer left comer of the forward, face-down half also not rifling to the last card as it too is secretly reversed FASDIU Ii Page 104For the Magi Slowly square the deck. At this point, a face-up indifferent card is on top of the deck. Below it, the balance of the deck is face down with the exception of the selected card, which is face up at the bottom. The next ittle sequence, whichis simply a Braue Reversal, will give a nice upside down/right side up display, it will center the chosen card reversed in the deck, and it will right the indifferent card that faces you on top of the deck. It is called the Flipover Underout, ingeniously applied by Paul Swinford to the in-hands “Triumph” genre. One simple move that accomplishes three important functions is, to me, ingenious! Bring your right hand over the deck and establish a small right-thumb break below the face-up card atop the deck. Immediately drop about half of the cards into your left hand. Curl your left forefinger below this packet and flip it face up, rolling it onto the right-hand packet. The thumb break that you had below the face-up card is now in the middle of the deck. Drop the cards below that break into your left and similarly flip them over and onto the right-hand cards. These actions take place as you say something like, “Some cards are facing upward and some facing downward - a mess!" Make whatever magical gesture suits your performing style and spread or fan the deck to show that all the cards are face up except for one. Remove the face down card and display the selection. Credits, References, and Remarks © Homer Liwag’s False Faro Shuffle may be found in the Fulminations column in Genii magazine, October, 1993, © Reference information for the Spread Cull may be found in “Stumped!” © The Spread Half Pass is described by Robert Giobbi in Card College, Volume 4, Hermetic Press Inc. 2000, beginning on page 987. © Ed Mario's TILT is described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Votume 4, ibid, beginning on page 997. © The Charles Aste Jr/Howie Schwarzman TILT finesse is also described by Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Volume 4, ibid, on page 1000. The Goodwin/Jennings Display is described in “New Outstanding Triumph’ from Mr. Jennings’ Up in FASDIU II Page 105For the Magi Smoke and other Tantalizing Mysteries lecture notes (1990) on page 9 © Paul Swinford's Flip Over Undercutis described by Jerry Mentzer in Card Cavalcade I 1974, begin- ning on page 208. FASDIU Il Page 106ae I perform this routine strictly for magicians. O.HENY ACO] rrerrce' tine sou yar ap 00 that | did test it out on the Jaily, and while A ssem b ly they enjoyed it and were fooled, they were completely missing some of the throw-offs that I'd built into the routine, those throw- offs having been structured for magicians. For laypersons, I'd rather perform ‘MacDonald's Aces” any day - I have been having rather a bit of fun with this routine for the magi, however, because of the bull in throw offs. Effect Four Aces are placed in Vernon's famous T-Formation and three indifferent cards are placed atop each Ace. One by one the Aces disappear from their own packets and con- gregate in the so-called leader packet, the packet containing the Ace of Spades. Finally, all the Aces disappear from the leader packet for an O.Henry ending Method and Presentation A Wonderful, Flexible Add-On Taking a shuffled deck in use, flip it face up and spread through it, upjogging the four aces. As you upjog the aces, secretly cull any two indifferent cards below the spread, The aces, by the way, should be upjogged for a full three-quarters of their length. After the fourth ace is upjogged, continue spreading through to the last eight or 10 cards in the deck, keeping those cards spread, See Photo Seventy. photo seventy FASDIU I Page 107For the Magi The inner left comer of the culled cards should be against the back of the lowermost card of the slightly-spread deck allowing you to grip the deck in its slightly spread condition with your right hand. While upjogging the aces, note the position of the ace of spades relative to the other upjogged aces. The idea is to remove the aces in such a way that the ace of spades is the third card from the face of the packet once ail four are removed, If, a8 you look down at the jogged aces, the ace of spades is the topmost ace, then pull out the two lowermost aces with your left fingers first and then lay them onto the remaining jogged aces and pull all four cards from the spread. Similatly, if the ace of spades is second fom the face of the upjogged aces, then pull the lowermost ace out of the spread with your left fingers, lay it onto the remaining aces, and yank ail four of them from the spread. Ifthe ace of spades is the lowermost of the four upjogged aces, then use your left fingers to first pull out the two facing aces, slide them below the remaining aces, and pull all four from the spread. Finally, if the ace of spades is already third from the face of the upjogged aces, simply pull all four aces from the spread with your left fingers. in any of these cases, you'll then have the four aces in your left fingers with the ace of spades third from the face of the packet. The reason that you have upjogged the aces for three-quarters of their length is so that they may be smoothly stripped from the deck at this point. Slide the aces below the leftmost card of the spread but above the two secretly culled cards. Allow the deck to square into your left hand and flip it face down. Immediately deal the top four cards to the table as described in the next paragraph. This add-on is Ed Mario’s “Combination Cull and Exchange,” and is so completely disarming, and so natu- rally imitates what you would actually do to remove the aces, that | actually began work on this routine justto use the add-on. See more about this add-on in the References, Credits, and Remarks section. So, you have just removed the Aces from a shuffled deck and ostensibly placed them on top of the deck, flipping the deck face down. Deal the first apparent ace onto the perform- ing surface forward and to your right. Deal the next apparent ace to the left of the first and the third (actual) ace to the left of these two. Flip the top card of the deck face up, the ace of spades, and deal it face up nearer to yourself and aligned with the middle card of the small row you have formed. This is Vernon's famed T-Formation for his “Slow Motion Ace Assembly.” Be sure, however, to deal the first three cards from your right to your left when forming the top of the “T" of the formation. Bring your right hand palm down over the deck as you thumb over the top four cards. Pick FASDIU Ii Page 108For the Magi up on the four cards with your right fingers and thumb and resquare them against the base of your left thumb. Revolve this four-card packet face up side for side using the pads of your left fingers as a fulcrum. See Photo Seventy-One. Immediately draw the face card of the packet about a hai-inch to the left with your left thumb and then table this packet face up to the right of the ace of spades. During these actions, patter: “Im also going to use twelve extra cards, Although I'm going to go very slowly, I'm using these cards to confuse you - try not to let yourself be confused," This line will be repeated, creating a bit of a running gag. photo seventy-one Spread the top three cards of the deck to the right with your left thumb and grip them with your right fin- gers below and thumb above. Underhand stud deal these three cards, stil in their spread condition, onto the face-up packet on the table. See Photo Seventy- ‘Two. Continuing, repeat these actions two more times, creating a face-up, unsquared pile of 13 (ostensibly 12) cards, To fill the dead air after the patter line, sim- ply count the cards as you create the face-up pile, ie. “..six, nine, twelve.” photo seventy-two Table the deck to one side, out of the frame of performance. Square the face-up packet at its sides and take it into left hand dealing position. Note that you have casually shown the faces of 11 cards while apparently counting off 12. This, combined with the deceptive nature of Marlo's switch, combine to ensure that at least some portion (let's hope the greater portion) of your magician audience will believe that the aces actually are the cards in the T-Formation. Slowly and with direct movements, push three cards off the face of the packet, square them, and {urn them face down onto the apparent ace at the right end of the row. Repeat with the next three cards, placing them onto the apparent ace in the middle of the row. Take the next three cards and place them face down onto the actual ace at the left end of the row. You must use a little acting here: take the face card of the left-hand packet into FASDIU I! Page 109For the Magi your right fingers and “notice” that the ace of spades is face up. { usually mutter a just- audible-enough “oops” under my breath as | turn my left hand palm down to steady the ace of spades while | slide the card in my right hand slightly under it. Flip the ace face down, drop the right-hand card face down onto it, take the left-hand cards face down into your right hand (from above), draw the lowermost card from the bottom of this three-card packet and drop it onto the ace pile, followed by dropping the double card from your right hand onto the packet as well, Square the packet. The First Ace Goes Pick up the rightmost packet of the row of three and place it into left-hand dealing position. Ask, “Am | going too fast? Just slow me down, | tend to speed up." Begin a face-down Elmsley Count, saying, “Remember, these cards are only here to confuse you but you shouldn't let yourself be confused.” After the third count of the Elmsley, tum the three cards counted face up and spread them, See Photo Seventy-Three. Drop them to the table in the space that the packet occupied a moment ago. Spin, whirl, or snap the remain- ing in-hand card and flip it face up. “The ace is gone,"you say. Since your audience of magicians will recognize the Elmsley Count, and since the three-card packet is tured face up before it is fanned - they may suspect that you are using a double-faced card a la “MacDonald's Aces" to vanish this first Ace. Drop the in-hand card face up onto the trio of face up cards you had tabled a moment ago. photo seventy-three Pick up the ace of spades packet and turn it face up into dealing position in your left hand. Grip the packet from above with your right hand and use your left thumb to pull the ace of spades into left-hand dealing position. Pull the next two cards onto the ace of spades FASDIU I Page 110For the Magi creating a small fan, Your right hand will be left holding a double card with an ace at its face. Place this card onto the left-hand fan. | actually flip the card face down using the mechanics of the Stuart Gordon Double Lift as | square the left-hand cards, Then | flip the double card face up onto the packet bookwise. Either way, table the packet face down below the leftmost packet of the three-packet row. See Photo Seventy-Four. The Second Ace Goes Casually let your right palm be seen empty and then place it flat against the middle packet of the row of ace packets. Slide this packet toward you, as if adding palmed cards to it These motions are made to arouse suspicion and are used as a feint because momen- tarily you will be adding palmed cards to a packet Execute the first three counts of another Elms- ley Count and snap, whirl or spin the remaining card. Flip it face up in your right hand, saying, “And there goes Ace number two.” Toss the card face up onto the face-up packet that is forward and to your right. Slowly stud deal the remain- ing three cards from this packet onto the face- up pile as you patter, “And you'll notice that there is no ace among the three cards I'm using to photo seventy-four confuse you.” your audience had a suspicion about double-faced cards, you have just cancelled that method. Pause and ask, “!’m not going too fast, am |?” Some humor (or slight frustration) will be experienced by your audi- ence at this point because you are obviously going so slowly that no amount of extra cards would be confusing, and you have cancelled the one method they may have thought about -yet the aces are still disappearing from their own packets and appearing in the ace of spades packet Pick up the ace of spades packet and flip it face up into left-hand dealing position. Pull down on the bottom card (the ace of spades) with your left pinky finger and take the top three cards from above in your right hand, Suiting actions to words, say, “So here / have not only the ace of spades and clubs, but also the ace of diamonds - and this ten of diamonds." Of course, name the ace of spades as you siide it from beneath the packet, and then name the aces you see as they are reverse counted onto the ace of spades. FASDIU Il Page 117