PUBUSHEDBY

www.dananddave.com

LAYOUT, DES IG N AND PHOT OG RAPHY

David Buc k

SMOOTH O PERATIONS I KEVIN HQ

Copyrig ht (g 2008 by Dan and Da ve Industries

All rig hts res erved

Mi::1Y 2008

W RITTEN BY
Kevin Ho

A DDIT IO NAL [DITING

Erik J ansso n, n aren veow, Jonas Haglund, Ryu Koyama, Dav id Bu ck

SPEC IAL THANKS

Mom and Dad , Jennifer and David , Just in Ye, Bo ne Ho . Huro n Low , Daren Yeo w , Dan and Dave Bu ck, Virtuoso,
David Regal, Brendan "Solom on" Bank s, Aeth an Frid ay, De rren Brow n , Terry Gill iam , H an na h Grace Groc h- Beg ley,
Mark Clemens. David Fincher
SMOOTH OPERATIONS
106J Pun k'd
[10) St ati c 4
[12J Inverse Impulse
[14) Long Division
[18J Pegasus
122) Florid a Count
[26J Chaser
[30j Raccoon
[34J Collectors: Red ux
[38} Visa Switch
[42J Fu lly Lo aded
[44} Conspiracy o f Fo ur
[50J Bob Change
[54} RePainted

[04] Fo rew ord

[05} Int roduction
107J Aft erwo rd
[58J References
 S m o o t h Operdliolls by Kt::v irl Hu

I still re me m b e r w h a t h a p p e n e d wh en I ru s t bumped in to
Ke v in at a mogic s hop ma n y y e ars ago . .. h e sp illed hi s drink .
W ell that didn 't re a l l y hap pe n. but wh at d i d . I will ne ve r forget.

W P. h a rt 1'1 m in i s ass to n of s ort s J'lft Ar a n e nth u s tas t to In t r o d u o tt o n

rrom Ke v i n. He (o l d m e h e ha d heard a bo ut my wo rk. wh i c h, of
co urse , caused m y h e a d t o s we l l. T h is f o ll ow e d wit h me p erform -
In g f o r h im ... a nd rea liz ing s ome th i n g tha t d ay.

xe vm-s t he kmo or g u y who w atch e s wh at y o u d o a nd gets in-

c red ib l y a nd s incere ly imp re ssed, then i n t ur n p erforms some
t hin e 'lit tl e ' fo r y ou a n d m ak e s you f e el li k e a r etard .

His work re min ded m e clp.Ap l y about w ha t mRg i c; sho uld f ee l li k e .

ftH~ 1 llk e I w a s s i tti n g through a commo n r o b o ti c memo -
It u idll ' l
r ized script. He pro jected a sense of comfort that w a s so in vit -
in g that i t i n t ri gu e d a nd c a p tivated me d e e ply. H is patter w a s so
f un n y, y e t so cco uc t t h ot it in du co d .:J; co n ee o f u ns toppab l e f low.
Th is w a s beaut i f u ll y fu s e d WIth -hIS I m p ecc a bl e card tec hn iq ue ,
wh ich had a sense of r h y t h m ... a bea t o f s orts I had n ev e r see n
an y w here e lse Furt hermore , hi s u nd e r st an din g of t he peak s and
fall s o f wh a t he perfor m e d cre at ed off -b e at m om en t s that p ut m e
i n a mi x o f s hock , l a u gh t er a nd pu r e a st o n is h me nt. It w a s. i n t ri -
catel y s imple ; a win din g ri d e th a t. .. see med so d irect. H i s magic
w a s a d i v ine d ic hotom y in i t s e lf , a parado x of p erfect ion th at...
w ell. .. made me f e el li k e a re tard .

Persona l l y . f ha ve a l wa ys pre ferred using ' u t ili ty sequences ' to

create rout in e s on the spot based what a spectators l i k e d to see.
I n eve r be l ie ved in routines becau se the y felt li k e an i n fl e x i hl p.
ri gi d pro c e s s that w e re , well. .. rouunes .

Yet , over th e y e a r s, Kevin has rea l ly opened m y e yes to t he

b e a u t y of hi s i d e a of wh at rout ines cou ld be like. Hi s routin e s
that have s u c h an o ff-beat fee l to them y o u'o swear he ha d s o me
sudde n b urs t o f d i v i n e inspirat ion that r esult ed in a mom en t of
"'c ,
e ne r gy- p u m p e d spon t a n e i t y . His routines were what I i n t e n d e d
~2
u t il i ty sequences to be like , but w ith better rhythm a nd flo w.
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Hi s ro u tin e s a re th e onl y rout i nes besides my o wn that I p er f o r m,
0 - and now the idiot ha s publ ished t h e m .

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T h i s book . o r 'n ot e s ' , as h e h um bl y ca l ls them , i s a beautiful
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E col lect ion of aud i enc e -tested mater ia l that I ' ve seen ge t r e fin e d
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_0 -u and perfect ed o v er th e )C eers.
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- u A ll I ' ll say i s, w h e n K e v in sa ys h e has someth ing 'little ' to s ho w
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you , it's going to b e freak in g m a s s i ve An d w n a n xa v!n t ae ts h e
h a s somet hi ng w or tf fJu lJl i::itl i llg . . m a ll, lhat ':;; some thmq el se.
u :;:;
~ o W e l c om e to the w o rk of a m an w ay to o h u m bl e .. . and wa y t oo
n x ck tned .
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 Come July I'll hav e been into m a gi c for six y ear s now.
What a conc ept. If I w ere to t ime-tra ve l back to wh en I wa s 13
Yp"'l(!'; air! ano t P.1l my!,;p.lf t h a t I 'rl hp. !';pp.nrl ing m y rernaininq y e a r s
fidd li ng around with a handful o f pape r recta ng les , I ' d prob -
ably s c o ff a t my s elf i n d isbel ief. The n I 'd h ijack t he t ime trav e l
mach in e a n d go b a ck t o 20 0 m il lion B.C . so I cou ld punc h a n
Igu a n o d o n in the f a c e .

An yway .

Thi ngs ha v e com e a l o n g w ay s in ce I f irst started up m y li ttl e

m re d ux . tk w e b si t e back in 20 0 4 I ' ve since e s tab l is herl a rep u -
t a ti on as a m e mb er o f th e S tnqapore -baseu rtou r ts h group Vi r-
tuoso , w hi c h has gar ne red acc la im i n t e rn ati on ally since it s re -
i n t ro d u c ti on l a s t fa l l.

Ho we ver, o n e of th e s ide effects of m y o n lin e e x p o s u re b e ing

lim i t e d to m os tl y f lour ishes i s that peop le are n't a ware tha t I do
mag ic: a!'; w ell A p ract tca ! so tut to n t o th is w oul d be to s imp ly
c o me ou t w ith m ore mag ic vi d e o s , b ut i t ' s a l wa ys been a strong
p ersonal be li ef of m ine t hat mag ic i s mean t to be performed in
real life for rea l p eop le , as opposed to f o r some ra ndom s tr a nqer
on th e o ther side of a scree n m iles a wa y w h o ' ll j u s t r e- w a t c h th e
Vi d e o o ver and over acam to l e a r n the secret.

N e v erth el ess , i t' s a lso an i m p o r t a n t ph i losoph y of mine- that if

y o u come acro ss s o m e t h in g w o r t h s haring , b y e tr'tneane do. With
that in mind , i n M arch of th is y e a r I !';P. t ou t to comp i le a sm all
booklet of magic-re la ted m at e rt at lha t I ' ve cre a t e d o ver the p a s t
s ix years, the re sult of wh ich y o u n ow ho ld in y o u r hands . In a c -
cordance w ith my s t y l e , all the mater ia l wi t hi n can be p erform ed
with 0 n o r rn al, bo rr o w e d deck , a n d it: at: v i s u a l as it is pra c ti -
cal. Alto geth er YOU'll find 5 effects to wow and Im p r e s s, 4 u tili ty
moves for y ou to p la y a r o u n d with , 3 ace productions to jum p
start your fo u r-card rou tine s . and 2 flourishes in li eu o f wh a t' s
expected of m e . It ' s bee n a total blast work ing tog eth er with
Dave Buc k on th i s p r o j e c t , and now that everythi ng ha s f all e n
into pl ace I' m exc i ted t o se e how it atl tvr ns cu t

Thank you f o r y ou r s u p port in purchasing this bookl et - I h o p e

you hav e a o m u ch fun read i n g it at: I d id writing it. With t hat sa id ,
grab a d e ck at ca rds . crack open the pages , and get re a dy to
educate your s el f in t he ways of awesome ness. An d to quote o n e
of my favorit e m ovi e s of a ll time,

" W h e re w e go f ro m the re . is a cho i ce I l e av e to you."

Kevin H o
5 M ay 2 0 0 8

Ps. Upo n furth er r evis io n , i t seems li k e we f orgo t to take out the

i t e m !'; marked as 'filler ' - I apo l og ize fo r t hese i n advance.

5
 Smooth Oper attons by Kevin Ho

PUNK'D
r:: I became t a s ct n at e u wi lh til e
e Rh ythm Count a fte r be ing vi ol en tly
''':: vi ol a t e d by S yd S e qa ! and JC W a Q9
:; ncr 's usc of i t i n ' A Log ica l L ccoo n '
;.
•... •• from Sega l s OVO. S impl y S ydney. At -
~ ter play ing w i t h it for a w hil e , I f ina ll y
- r::
••
came u p w ith t h is hand l ing of Pa u l
H a rr i s ' ' H e - B e t ". It 's i n s t a n t, d ire ct ,
and l e av e s y o u ju st as cl e an a s w h e n
y u u sta r ted. Enj o y .

Tw o four of a k inds i n st a n tl y
change p lace s wi th each o t her, and
t h e n back a ga i n mome nts l a t e r.

SETUP
St art out w ith t he four Aces on top of th e four J acks, face-down. It doesn 't matter w hat ord er t he Aces
are in, but be sure t o have th e Jacks arrang ed so that the bottom two are di fferent colo rs from each
other. This is to ens ure th at yo u don't ' magically ' make all the Jacks the same colo r dur ing the false
c ount later on .

NOTE
At this po int I like to give the ca rds a bit of a concave bend. [1 J This wi ll ma ke the final di tch/ add -o n much eas ier to ac-
r:omrli!":h .

Begi n with the packet o f eight cards face-down in you r left hand. Spread the cards out, and break the
cards int o two packets of four so that the Jacks are in yo ur left hand, and the Aces are in your right.

" Here's a little something with eight cards.. .

Turn your hands pa lm-down t o flash the faces of the cards to the spectators. As you do so. place your
left middle finger on the Jack third from the face in preparation for getting a break underneath it.

Of• • • two four of a k ind s."

6

~ you t urn you r hands back over, square up the
Jacks in your left hand and obtain a pinky break
_ d erneat h t he Jack sec n nrl from f hA fop in the
oeocess, At the same time , square the cards in
.'OUr rig ht hand on top of the Jacks.
Ith yo ur right hand, p ic k up t he s ix cards above
.....e b reak. Flash the fa ces of the 'fo ur' (act ually
:wo) Jacks in you r left han d before p lacing th em
th e table, face-down . (It's okay if t he cards
spread a little - it only enforces the Id ea that t here
are rnuttlple cards there .)
" I' ll set the Jacks off to one side. . ...
Perform an Elm sley count w it h th e cards in yo ur
- and to show that there are four card s there. Get
a break under th e third card co unted (it should be
a Jack).
u.. .leaving me to work with the four Aces."
.\s you say this , flash the face of the final card in
r rig ht hand (an Ace) before count ing it o ff into
r left hand.
'lEALiTY CHECK
should now have s ix cards in your left hand in this
c-oer; from top to bottom fac e-down : Ace, Jack, (pinky
,:rea.i<) three Aces, Jack.
wit's show li me! Make a m ag ica l gesture - s nap
r fi ngers, w av e your hand, take off you r under-
ear wi t ho ut removing yo ur pants - an y w ay t o
5 you r spectators know t hat 'so met hing' s' hap-
- ad.
"But if I just snap my fingers, the Aces start
to look exactly••• like the four Jacks. "
In o rd er to d o w hat yo u ju st said happened, yo u're
now going to perform the Rhyt hm Co un t:
RHYTH M COUNT
Execu te a double lift to reveal the first Jack, then
tum over the double and push off the top card
(actually an Ace) and table it. Push off the next
card into your right hand, and turn your left hand
palm-down to flash the face o f the b o tt om card
in the left hand's packet. As your left hand turns
back p alm -up, turn your right hand palm -down to
flash the face of the Jack it's holdin g. As you flash
the face of this Jack, push o ff the top card of the
left hand's packet and d rop it on top o f the p revi-
ously tabled CArd. Once that's d one, drop the righ t
hand's card face-down on top o f that packet as
well. Finally, take the remaining p acket o f three in
the left hand into right hand Biddle grip, and flash
the face of the bottom card. Plac e this triple onto
the other thre e tabled cards taco-down to finish.
Pic k up t he four (actually s ix) card s from t he t able
and p lace th em into t he left- hand.
" So if these cards are the four Jacks, then it
makes sense that those [qccturc to the ta bled cards]
cards must be the four Aces . However, that doesn't
explain how these cards .,;"
Perfo rm Vernon 's Through the Fist Flo urish, re -
vealing an Ace.
THROUGH THE FIST FL OURISH
Have your lett thumb contact the ou ter short side
of the packet. Turn your hand p alm-down, and as
you do, use your thumb to push the packet out.
This will make it seem like the cards are turning
back into the Aces cs they emerge through the
other side of your fist.
Tak e the pa cket w it h the rig ht fing ers and p lace it
back into the left hand, face up. Yo u're now go-
ing to perform an Ascan io Spread w it h a m odi-
fied g rip - instead of using the right hand's m iddle
f inger and thumb , use yo ur right ring finger and
thumb.
7
 Smoo th Oporuttonc by Kevin Ho

ASCAN IO SP READ motion, sliding ott the way to the inn er short side
Grip the packet with your right ring finger on the of th e packet.
outer right corner, and the right thumb on the in-
ner right. Re-p osition the left hand's fingers so tha t NOTE
the left thumb is on the face of the packet and the Wh en I do this, I usually make sure th at the rig ht side of
the cards are in contact with my right hand at ~II time. Th is
left index finger on the back. Pull your left ind ex
he lps prevent th e cards from separating.
finger and thumb to the left, dislodging the top
and bottom Aces from the packet. Now, ha ve y our
Jeft middle finger contact the back of the packet
h eld by th e right hand, and proceed to slide that
upward s and to the left. If you pull the left thumb 's
card to wards y ourself, the resulting display should
took something like: l2 !

" ... are the four Ac es. unless t hese.....

Beperete the packet held in t he right hand from

t he ot her cards . Tab le the left hand 's cards.

You are now going to perform a sort of Mexican -

Turnover add -on move . St art by performing t he
Stuart Gordon double turnover wi th the packet in
the right hand.
STUART GORD ON DO UBLE TUR NOVER
At this point, th e packe t should still b e g rip p ed "by
th e right ring fin g er and thumb, leaving the index
and m id d le fingers free. ,
The index and m iddle fingers are now going to
contact tile fac e of tile packet. The thumb is th en
going to g o underneath the packet, causing the
card s to start to turn over. ..
Your thumb is now g oing to foJ/ow throug h in its
As you're doing all this. press your left index fin-
ger on the left side of the tabl ed Jacks. This w ill
creat e a gap bet w een t he right side of the cards
and th e table. In on e contin uin g motion, st ic k th e
right hand 's pac kel into t his gap. [5J
As you start to turn th e ca rds over on the table.
use your rig ht t humb to p ush off everyth ing ex-
cept t he Ace. [6.
Fol low through by complet ing t he turnover m o-
t ion, and use th e Ace to spread the Jacks, face-
up , onto the t able. [7

8
 ". . .the whole time."

NOTE
Instead of the rhythm count, you can also use t he Flo ri d a
Count :"Iql? 21 to show that th e Aces have tu rned into
Jac ks. •

.. have been the Jacks..."

the ac e back onto the other t hree Aces, ere-

~""l9 the final d ispl ay o f two separate groups of
th at have somehow managed to switch
= aces back and forth .

9
 Sm o ot h Ope rat ions by Kevin Ho

STATIC ~
C [ [av e four -card prod uct io ns .
••e
...
It 's t he p r ec is ion of b e i ng ab le t o
s t y l istica ll y and in s t an t an e ou sl y p ro-
:0:
:.. duc e a f o u r- o f - a -ki n d th at rea ll y ap -
-6. pea ls t o me , both as a m a gi c i a n a n d a

- "-
=:
••
f lou rrsher. Here 's a q uic k a nd s imp le
one t hat I 'v e been u sing fo r a w flile .

• • M e n ti on e d a b o v e . (T h e re ' s a c -
tu ally l o t s of in f or m ation in t h A 'i n -
sp iration ' sec uc ns . su read rh em.)

S ETU P
From the t op of the deck: 3 face-up Jacks, rest of d ec k (face-up or fac e- down, d oesn't matter), face -
up Jack. For aest het ic p urpo ses I like to m ake sure that the top and bottom Jacks are of th e same
color - thi s mak es for a nic e alternating -colo r arran gement in the f inal display.

NOTE as fol lows: pull th e t op card to the left, cau sing

I-Iold tho dock with .rcckc f:lcing you in the left hand , and it t o dislodg e and become perpend icul ar to th e
keep the deck ti lted towards yourself so that the face of the deck [1 , revealing itself to the audience.
deck isn 't seen . Make sure that yo ur spectators are poe t
tloned to you r left - most of the effectiveness of th is pro~uc ­
Let the p rod uc ti on si nk in for a small beat. In t hat
t ion rel ies on the clever manipu lation ot ang les .
moment, move your fingers so that your right in-
dex finger is on t op of the card and t he rest of your
Talk about how you can use static elect ricity to
right fingers are below it. Clip th e card between
find cards that yo u want. Rub your rig ht index fin -
your right index and middle fin ger, w hile you usa
ger on your c lothing to generate this 'static elec -
your right ring finger and thumb to grip the front
tricity' . and then touch t he face of the d eck w it h
short side of t he rest of the deck -thumb on t op
th e index finger.
c ard , ring finger on bottom.
As soon as the index finger contacts the face o f
To produce the other three Jacks , use your right
the deck, use your left thumb to pop out the card

10
ring fin g er and thumb t o pull t he top and bottom
cards of the deck out forward. [2J

Wilen t he cards are abo ut three-q uart ers of t he

way out, apply p ressure on t he bott om Jack with
the left ind ex finger, holding it in place. Cont inue
to move forw ard wi th t he right hand , c arry ing the
top Jack w ith it as you re- grip th e card wit h your
right ring f inge r underneath.

As you're doing all this , t ilt your le ft hand towards

your spectators so that th e Jack on th e top of the
deck is now visible. [3] •

!3J Final display

[21 Top card removed for clarity

11
 S mooth Ope ra ti on s by Ke v in Ho

INVERSE IMPULSE
/ I discovered this awesome litt le change back
e in 2003, ctter my buddy Justin showed me 3 change
'0:
.
of his that worked on the same concept. About a

.. '
~
:.
Q,
year later, I pick e d up Chris Kenner 's ' To t a l l y Out
of Control ' and f o u n d that hp. had used a similar
cha nq e ill cue of h is e ff e c t s . So w hy am I publish-
:J
l: ing this?

One word: simplicity.

While the Mill er Ch an g e (o r V ictor Change) pretty

much accompli sh e s the s ame effect. the gr ip for
this v ersion o f t h e ch ange has a more natural f eel
to it, th e mo ti on of t h e change i s a l o t easier anrt
reliabl e , and it can b e repeat ed ma ny tunes i r-?a
row. S o w ith th at in mind , let 's take a l o o k at how
this thing work s .

Start w it h t he dec k face-u p in your right hand in end grip. Swing -cu t half of the deck into your left
hand, and p lace th e other half on top of the left hand's pa c ket out-jogged so that enough of the face of
the bottom pa ck et is visi b le to the spectator (about half way is fine). Tilt your left hand down towards
your spectator t o make sure that they can see w hat's going on.

NOTE
You want to make sure that the cards on the bottom half of the deck are square with each other. This is to ensure that no
cards are stlckmq out under the chanqed card aft er you execute the move.

The ca rd at t he fac e of the bottom pac ket is th e one t hat is going t o be change d. As you use your rig ht
hand to gesture toward the card, b evel the deck slig htly to t he righ t. 1]

Use your left thumb to sliqhtly peel down th e outer-lett corner of the ca rd on the bottom of t he top
packet. Relax th e th umb, but maintain a flesh break above the card. r21

Now for th e change - The gap which the break creates shou ld make it easy for the left index f ing er to
contact the outer short edg e of the card below the break. Once the index finger contacts t he edge of
t he card , it should be able to pu ll d ow n on the card sli ghtly and push it inwards, so that it is flush with
the lower half of the deck. [3]

12
The card p ulled in with the index finger wi ll cover bottom half co mple tely before the chanqed card
t he car d showing at the race of the bo tt o m half, is pulled out all the way. •
creat ing the illusion that the card on th e bottom
half has changed. [4 1

4J action of the card being pushed up

Of course, it you do this action w ithout cover, then

you r spectators will see what you are doing, effec-
t ive ly making you retarded. To cover the sleight,
you can snap your Fingers over th e card , make
a w av ing motion , give the deck a s hake , or even
give your left hand a quick flick of the wrist.

And of course, once you'v e executed the change,

you can just as quickly do the get-ready aga in,
m aking th is instantly repeatable.

To clean up , pull ou t the ch an ged card w it h your

right hand as your left ind ex finger pushes the top
ha lf of the deck flush w it h th e bottom half. Th is
buries your 'evidence' in the center of t he deck.
To avo id flashing , th e top half need s to cover t he
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

LONG DIVISION
c Back wh en I used to wo rk at a mag i c s h op in St nqapo re . m y emp lo yer

.-...
e showed me t h is cute littl e gag wh e re i t l o o k e d li k e y ou w e re bend ing an out -

. '50
..
:ll
Jogg ed card wi t h -me po we rs o f y o u r M IN D!!.' I p rett y m uch u sed t he Id e a
v e r b a ti m unt i l l a t e 2007 , w h e n dur ing Q mome n t of t o m f o ol e ry, I d iscovered
t h a t i f y o u h a d anot he r c ard in -j o gg e d in the dec k y ou co u ld create the Illu-

.-c
s io n t h at y ou w ere b end ing a s i ng le , e lo ngated card . Exp e r im e n t i n g further

- :10
w i t h the concept resu lted in a pT"<'l r. tir.<'I1 w?y to get i n t o i t, as w ell as some
addit iona l subtl eties a nd a lu yit,; al e n d i n g . T he f ol l owin g effect i s me re ly o ne
appl icat ion of th i s ' l o n g card ' id e a - fee l f r e e to play aro und wi t h i t and come
up w i t h y o u r o wn var iat ions .

A card i s pro d u ce d , equa l ling t h e v al u e o f t wo sp ectators ' chosen

cards. Th i s SIngle card i s then vi su ally " at re tcnao" In t o a 'long card' , which
the spectators help split i nt o t wo cardo , each o ne being a s e l ection.

SETUP actuality y ou're just going to lift up all the cards

Find three ca rds of t he same suit, so that th e value
of card 1 + value of card 2 = value of ca rd 3.
In this exam ple we' ll be using the Five, Two, and
Seven of Clubs. Arrange t hem in the following or-
der all top of the deck, face down : 2C, 5C, 'rC,
rest of deck.
above y our break. Push off the top card of the
left han d 's packe t and hand it to y our spectator-
y ou 've now effectively forced a card.
Regardless of how you go about forcing the cards,
make sure that after you do so the 7C is still on
top of the deck.

Start off by forcing the top two cards to two spec-
tators respect ively - I usually just use a Riffle
Force.
NOTE
For c larity. the spectator to yo ur left w ill be referred to as 51 ,
an d th e spectator to yo ur right as 52. 51 has c hos en the 2
of C lubs, and 5 2 has c hosen the 5 of C lubs.

RIFFLE FORCE
W hen t hey 've each memorized their card , turn to
Cut the deck and hold a b reak between the two
51 and sw lnq -cut half of the deck inl o your left
halves. Using y our left thum b, riffle down the side
of the deck and ask y o ur spectator to call ou t ha nd. Prompt him to return the card face-down on
top of t he left ha nd 's packet, and proceed to drib-
"s top" a t anytime. When they say "s top", pretend
b le th e right-hand 's packet on top of it , maintain-
to take note of where they stopped you, b ut in
ing a break b etw een t he halves in the process.

14
Sp read th ro ug h the ca rds unt il you reach yo ur top, thu mb on bottom.
bre ak and separate t he spread at th e break. Have
S2 replac e his card on top o f the left han d's pa c ket. Begin to execute a Charlier c ut in the left han d , bu t
Obtain a pinky break below the second se lection don't com p lete it. Insert t he 2C between th e two
(5 of clu bs) as you square the right hand sp read of halves , and leav e it in -jogged half its lengt h. Onc e
cards bac k on top of t he left hand 's pac ket. this is done, complete the actions of t he Charlier
cut , sandwi ch ing the 2C in th e c enter. [1] [2]
·Normally. a magician has you take a card,
put ft back in the deck, and then he finds it. Easy
stuff. In this case, we have not one, but two selec -
tions in need of finding - making the task at hand
twice as difficult: '

As you say this , casually cut the cards at the

break.

REALITY C HEC K
The 2 of Clubs shou ld no w be on top of th e deck,
w it h the 7 of Cl ubs second from top, and the 5 of
Clubs on bottom.
,
Secretly get a p ink y break underneath the top two
cards. With the right hand, make a m agical ges-
ture.

"I think I've got one .

Exec ute a doub le lift , reveal ing the 7 of Clu bs .

Turn t o 5 1 and ask if this w as his card . When he
d en ies, tu rn to 5 2 and as k if it was his card . He
w ill also say " no ".

" N o ? Well, um ... was I close? Old I get the

suit right? Yeah? You too? Ah , I see ... I think I
know what's happened. By some ungodly act of
nature, I managed to f ind both of your cards at
once! Isn't that AMAZING?!?!!!"

Pause. Wa it a beat - you r spectato rs s hould be
dul y un imp ressed .
"Alri ght, that's a cheap cop-out, I admit - I
. of t he d ec k up to a 115 degree ang le. [3] Not ice
mean, there are a bunch of different combinations
of cards that eould result in this particular result:
a one and a six , a three and a four, perhaps even
two three-and-a-half of clubs, who knows."
Turn the double face-down on to p of the deck.
With your rig ht hand t ake th e t op c ard (2C) off th e
deck by gri pping it at th e inner ed ge - fingers on
In a contin uing action, with your right fingers still
hol ding onto the in ner ed ge of the 2C , lift up t he
card fro m the left side, leverin g the up per portion
th e left thumb is used to hol d t he pac ket in place,
simi lar to the beg inning of a Ch arl ier cu t.
Place the tip of your left ind ex f inger in contac t
with the bo ttom card of th e top half of the deck
(sC). Make sure that you establish fr iction be-
tween the ind ex finger and SC, so t hat you can
easily push the SC outward with t he index f ing er
in a moment.

15
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

enough of th e c ard sticking out to grip it w it h your

right fingers ,

Magic tl m el Two actions are no w going to oc -

cur simultan eously, m aking it look like the ca rd is
stretching out. You r left ind ex finger is going to
extend forward , out-jogging t he SC. At t he same
ti me, your right hand is going to pu ll t he in-jogged
card toward s yourself. If you time t hese two ac-
tions correct ly and e xecute t he m sm oothly, it w ill
look lik e t he c ard is slowly stretching. Co nti nue
"stretc hi ng" th e c ard unt il eac h end s o f the " long
card " are protruding about one and a half inc hes
(3)
out of t he d ec k , 5

If you t im e t he movem ent of the out-jogged card

wi t h t he movem ent of the in-jogged card , it wi ll
m ake th e c ard look lik e it 's slowly stretching.

.. .llterally. '

Once th e effect of t he c ard bein g st retc hed ou t

has set in, use the left thu mb to low er t he packet
so t hat it 's now on top of the deck.
?

No w for a neat little subtlel y suggested by Dave

Buc k to se ll the idea of th e ' long ca rd ' - if you
p lace th e right m iddle fin ger on th e bac k of th e
[4[
out-jogged card and th e right thu mb on the back
of th e in-jogged ca rd , by mo ving the righ t hand
fo rward and backward , you can make it seem as
if you' re slid ing t he 'long card ' through the center
of th e d ec k. (6) Keep t he left thumb and fingers
align ed squarely on the sides of the deck to make
sure t hat t he ' long c ard ' remains straight through -
out this action,

151

I So to find out the exact cards you two

took respectively, we 're going to have to go

through a process called ' Lo ng Divleion'.. .'·

First, pu sh the in-jogged card fo rward s until it 's

almost flush w it h the deck. There should only be

16
 " Hm.. . that isn 't it. looks like we'll have to
stretc h It out a bit more.. .'

Con tact the und erside of the out-jogged with your

left index finger. With the right fingers pinching th e
in-jogged card , repeat t he stretching process un-
t il t he cards are protruding a little over ha lf their
lengt h out at the deck .

'A lri g h t, the c ard ha sn't fully se ttled yet. .,"

Press down on th e in-jogged card with your right

index finger as your left ind ex finger presses up
on the out-jogged card. """1 If you do th is simu lta-
neo us ly, you can make it look lik e you are bending
th e ' long card '. Keeping a relaxed but s lightly firm g rip on the
deck, pult do wn wi t h you r right hand. Th is will
Re-grip the deck wi th yo ur right thumb on top and c ause the 'long card ' to appear to snap in two,
your other fingers be low. wit h each spectato r now holding their card . Have
th em c onfirm th eir selec tio n, collect your fee and
" S o we're going to have to hurry while it's go grab some sandwiches, yo. •
still hot - here. you hold on to this s id e.. . and you
hold on to the other."

[7)

Assumi ng your spectators haven't mo ved arou nd

while you' ve been performing, the out-jogg,ed
card belongs to 82, and the in-jogged one to 51 .
Have each respective spectator pinch their card
between their thumb and index finger, thumb on
top . Instruct them to hold onto the end s of t he
'long card ' tightl y. 18)

17
 Smooth Operations by Kev in Ho

PEGASUS
po
While r id ing t he bus h om e d ur in g my hi gh s c hoo l y e ar s, I wo utu u ne n
e e n c o u n t e r b u sma t es who would a sk m e t o s h o w th em som e tr icks to ma ke

-'"
~
t h e ir hou r-t on e r ide see m l e s s bor i n g . On e da y , whil e pe rfor m ing f o r a pers on
seated to m y l e ft , I fi gu r ed it woul d be a p erf e c t op po r tuni ty to u s e t h e a l-
.~
mi g hty O ne - ha n ded Top P a l m a s a colo r ch ang e. g iv en t h e a ng les. I h ad j u s t
~ Q. perfor me d a fou r-of -a - k i n d routin e fo r him , a nd r eali z e d th at n o t u sin g th em
'"c:
.~
in the n e x t tric k w oul d b e a wasted oppo rtu nity A mo m en t o f sp o nta nat t y
a nd a s imp le stack l a t er, I p ro c ee d e d to show this Ieflow s t u de n t a tour- c a rd
p ro d ucti on t hat h e woul d re me m b er fo r a long, lon g , tim e .

.. •
Tw o v ersi o n s o f a q u i c k a nd vi su al ac e produc t ion .

SETUP
From t he top: face -dow n Jac k , two fac e-up Jacks, rest of d eck (face- up or face-d own , doesn't mat-
ter), face-u p J ac k. For aesthetic p urp oses I like to ens ure that th e J ac k on th e bott om and t he Jack
second from the top are of the same color.

Po sit ion yourself so that you r sp ect ator(s) is to NOTE

your lett. With the cards in the right hand, in end
grip, exe c ute the one-hand top palm to revea l the
f irst Jack.
In the One-Hand Top Palm, th e card pa lmed doesn't have
to end perfect ly in palm position - as lo ng as it pops ou t of
view to the spectators on yo ur lett th at's good eno ug h to r
its use here .

Wh ile doing this yo u can either shake your hand

At th is point , ensure that your right middle finger
light ly from side to side, or use the left hand to
is contactin g th e underside of th e deck. This w ill
flick the bottom of t he dec k as the card appears.
become important in aiding th e product ion that
soon fo llo ws.
ONE-HAND TOP PALM
With the rig ht pinky. contact th e outer right cor-
Lo wer the deck int o your left hand and po sit ion
ner o f the deck. When ready to exec ute th e palm ,
t he left fingers so that th e inner corners of deck
apply a fo rc eful downwa rd pressure, p op p ing the
are gripped between the base of the left th umb
top card up into your right palm. [1
and pinky. Place the tip of your left index fin ge r
18
on the center of the bottom card, or lower if you w ant the card to protrude more during the upcoming
production.

Now comes the time for the b ig production. With your right thumb and middle f ing er, p ull out the top
and bottom cards respecti vely - the bottom card forwa rd , and UIB top card clockwise, using the lefl
pinky as a pi vot point . [2]

Palmed card remo ved for clarity

[3] Palmed card removed for Clarity {4] Final displ<:ty

Your right index finger now qoes under the thumb and qrips the top card. As the right hand continues
to pivot this card clockwise, the left index finger follows through on producing th e bottom card by
push ing it forward as far as it can. [3]

Turn the right hand palm-up to expose the f ina l Jack. The result should lo ok like: l ,.

WINGLESS PEGASUS
Here's a version o f the production th at 's got a smoother and more instantaneous motion, and doesn't
require the One-handed Top Pa lm (as the title w ould sug gest). Thanks to Dave Buc k for helping me
out on th is one.

Begin as in Pegasus, except wi t h the deck in your left hand, in dealer's grip. Make sure that the deck
is gripped firmly between the base of the thumb and the pink y, and that t he index finger is curled un -
derneath the d ec k like before.
19
 Smooth Operations by Ke v in He

With the right hand, app roach the cards, palm-

down . As you do this, use the left thumb to 'pop '
out t he top card of the deck, as in t he first part of
Static 4 [page 10j.

Contact the back of the card w it h the right fingers

as you remove the left thumb from the card. Your
rig ht ha':ld no w moves the card out and over the
front of the deck. [5J [5j [71

[7]

At the same time , use the right t hum b to pivot the

far-a- t J!'1 ca n-t on top of the deck in a clockwise
direction, just like before. As you do this, pu ll the
ca rd held by the right fingers towards you rself.

Wh ile t his is hap pening, use the left ind ex finger

to puo h o ut the bo ttom cord of the deck - it' ll be
s lightly harder th is time since the card was not
[5] previously separated from the pack, but with the
righ t amount at triction and pressure you should
be ab le to dislodge it quite easily.

You co uld slop here, lJul I usually like lu lake

th ings a bit further for this versio n - continue piv-
ot ing the card rotating off the left pinky clockwise ,
and as it reaches a gO-degree angle insert it into
the bottom -right corner of t he deck. [8]

[6]

[8J

Separate t he rig ht hand 's Jack f ro m the other

cards, and execute the Whirl flourish with it.

20
WHIRL FLOURISH
Pincti the card at irs center with the right thumb
and middle finger - thumb on top, middle finger
on bottom. Your index finger is now going to con-
tac t the bottom of the card and start to push it
forward slightly, causing the card to rotate slightly
anti clockwise. The index finger then quickly pulls
back, whi~e at the same time your thumb is going
to let go of the card. This will result in the card
spmnmg In a clockwise direction on rap of yo ur
middle finger.

As you do this , use the left ind ex and m iddle f in-

gers to rotate the protruding card 90 degrees
clockwise. This is accompl ished by simultane-
ously curl ing the m iddle finger inward as the index
finger is extended. >9] [~OJ

[91

Stop the sp inni ng cord , and lay it down on the

sides of the two protrud ing cards so that it bal-
an ces there. [ 1] .

21
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

L
FLORIDA COUNT
r>; I r ue Gem in i Cou nt va n anon I S
an expansion o f the idea of a f lash y
\ ) in -the hands fa lse cou nt. insp ired b y
\ Dan and Da ve Buck's " Dr a cul a Count"
published i n their 20 06 l e ctu r e no tes
"S te f qh tf y Magica l.' T he t it le i s a re f -
erence to t h e 2000 U.S. p re side ntia l
e lectio ns, i n part icula r f o r it s in f amy
for produc i ng drast ica ll y d iffere nt re -
sults f ro m a fe w s imp le co u nts ...

A ut il it y m o v e t o sho w two
cards as four. Inc ludes i nst ructio ns
o n how t o s ubst i t ute th e rhy t h m coun t
in P IJn k 'rl for t h a Plo rid a C OIJn L

SETUP
T he Florida Cou nt uses six cards - one four of a kind, and two other cards of the same value but of d if-
ferent colors. In this case, we ' ll use the four Ac es and the Jack of Hearts and Jack of Clubs. The or der
of the cards, from the top , should be two Aces , a Jack, then two Aces and the other Jack.

Be g in w ith the cards face-dow n in the left hand .
Spread t he top three cards over into the right hand
to show that there are four cards . Make sure that
the triple in your left hand remains square. Once
th is is done, close the spread, getting a pjnky
b reak underneath th ose top three cards .
Exec ute a triple lift, revealing the first jack. Turn it
bac k over and re-qrip th e cards in right-hand end
grip position , usi ng the right middle finger and
thu mb. Using the left thumb , peel off the top card
int o th e left hand .
Turn your right han d palm-up, reveal ing the sec-
ond Jack. At the same time , insert the left hand's
22
card bet ween the right ring f inger and p inky and
clip it as in. [1]
Using the rig ht index fing er, pivot t he t hic k packet
in your right hand face-down. At thi s moment, you
run th e risk of flashing the face of the cl ipped c ard
to people standing on your right , so eit her an g le
your body slig ht ly to the right, o r curl you r pin ky
inwards agai nst th e cl ipped ca rd as you do t his 50
th at its face doesn 't show .
With the left thumb , peel off the top card of t he
right hand 's th ick packet. [21

[1]
[21
Proceed to peel off another card halfway, and use
the right hand's packet to turn this card face-up
in the left hand , revealing the third Jack. At the
same time, execute the Stuart Gordon Double
Turn over [pa ge 8] to reveal the f inal Jack. [3]
[31
Pos ition the right hand's triple under the left hand's
face-up card , and turn both of over onto t he lett
hand 's packet. Place the right hand's clipped card
under the left hand's packet to finish.
APPLICATION IN PUNK'D
As previously mentioned in the explanation for
Punk'd [p age 6], you can substitute the Rhythm
Count w ith the Florida Count during the false
count sequence in the effect.
Flash back to the beginning of the effect, where
you've just supposedly laid the four Jacks (actu-
ally two) down on the table. Now. inst ead of us-
ing the Elmsley Count to displace the cards for
the Rhythm Count, you're going to do a modified
count in order to get the cards in place for the
Florida.
Get a break above the bottom card, usinq either a
pinky pull-down or a buckle. With the right hand
holding the cards in end grip, use the left thumb
to pee l off both the top and bottom cards of the
packet (as one) into the lefthand.
Continue by pee ling off a sing le card into the left
hand normally. At th is point, keep your left pinky
on the right side of its packet in preparation for
holding a break.
Now, instead of peel ing off the top card of the right
hand's packet, you're going to use the left middle
fingers to slide th e bottom card out to the left. The
key to having this go unnoticed is to maintain a
consistent rhythm during the count , so that the
mot ion for the third card matches the previous
two. As you pull this card square with the rest of
the left hand's packel, gel a pinky break under it.
Execute the Stuart Gordon double turnover with
the double in the right hand, again a subtlety to
convince your spectators that the cards you're
holding are the Aces. Finish by turning the double
over on top of the left hand's packet.
If you did this right, you should have the cards
ready in Florida Count position, with a pinky break
underneath the top three cards. Proceed normally
from this point. •
23
 Smoo th Oporcttone by Kevin Ho

continued from the Flu. id a Count

PCP
c:
-..
Whi l e meet ing u p w ith Da ve B uck and Chad
0
~
Nelson one aft ernoon , I sho wed t he m a n earl y v e r-
s i o n of the F l o r i d a Count and th e y suggest ed that
it s hou ld have s o m e sort of -r tasn re veal ' at the
. ~
e n d to show th at a ll t ho cards had turned into a n -
~ Q.

- ...c:
otb ar fo ur of a k ind. After some tldd llng around
"- wit h th e pos itioning of t he cards at the end of the
count , I cam e up w i t h t his coo t little way t o do just
that .

• • After s e emin g l y oou n unq only the fo ur J acks

i n your hand s, t h e four ace s l i t e ral l y 'p a r' O lrl of
no where.

Flash back to right before YOu close the Florid a
Count - at this point, you 'll have a packet of five
cards in your left hand, and a single card in your
right han d clipped bet w een you r ring finger and
pinky. [4J
Wi t h your right middle finger and thumb, grasp
the left hand 's packet in end grip position, and at
t he same time use your left thumb to peel off the
t op card of th e pac ket. Hol d t his peeled - off card
between your thumb and ind ex finger aroun d t he
middlA.

No w, a lo t is going to hap pen all at once so I' m

going to b reak it down into the four main motions
that will be o ccurring sim ultan eously:

1. Have your rig ht ind ex f inger contact the outer-

right corner of the packet in end grip. Using t he
right m iddle finger as a pi vot point, use your ind ex
finger to push the top ca rd up and t o the left, 50
that it swivels out in a c lockwi se d irecti on . Do thi s
unt il the card is at a gO-degree ang le to t he rest of
the packet. [51
[4

24
 that card and th e righ t ring f inger. [7] •

2. Turn your right hand pa lm-up, so that th e faces Final display

of these cards are revea led .

3. M ove you r right p inky so th at it is now on top

of the right ring f inger . This action will cause th e
cl ipped c ard to also turn face-up.

4. Have your left index finger push up and ov er

the thumb so that t he card in the left hand is now
fac e-up . Pul l your index f inger sl ig htl y towards
the left after it goes on top of the thumb , so t hat
the card w ill not only be face-up , but sidewa ys as
well.

So w hen all these motions are done in tandem (or

in this case , four-dem?), you should end up wit h a
d isp lay that looks like: {6]

f6j

What I like to d o imm ediat ely after PCP is to insert

the left hand's c ard underneat h the ca rd nea rest
to yourself, so that it is held between the back of
25
 Smo ot h Operations by Kevin Ho

CHASER
/ -
.-. c
e
Whil e v i s itin g m y re tat rves
a day wh ere I opte d to ~tl:l.Y
In t he U.S. In th e summer of 2 0 0 4 , th ere was
b y m y acl f i n the houoe co e ver yone ele e want out
to the ma ll. Th e re su l t ing 4- hour pri vate sess ion In my aunt 's li vin g ro o m led

• .-
-- - ~
Co
to t he c reat ion of a n earl y , chopp y v e r si on of t h is effect. A fte r three y e a rs
of r e f inem ent s , to uc h - ups , i m p rov e m e nt s ann ot h e r f u n s y n o n y ms . I fina ll y
came up wi t h a hand ling a nd prese nt a uo u for th e e ffect th at I w a s happy
:: w ith. T hough it was not m y i n taM io n , I rea lize that the ba sic foundat ion of
t tns e ffe c t IS s im i lar t o De ja Vu from T h e Tr Jlog y b y Dan a nd D av e . If y o u li k l:!
m y rout ine , I' d r ecommend tha t y o u c h e c k out the irs as we ll , a s it combines
a s w e et prem ise wi t h the ir trademark tt a sny ha nd ling.

Th e mag iCian off ers to demcnetrct c d ifferent a spect s of c ard-re lated

stelqht -ot-hand. W h a t fol lo ws i s a fast-paced sequence of c ard s appearing,
teleporting , changing, a nd transposing wi t h each other in a ca su a l , yet highly
v i s u a l m ann e r.

SETUP
From the top of a face-down deck: two red Aces ,
rest of deck, two black Kings.
Get a pinky break above the bottom three cards .
I usually accompllsh t his by spreading the cards
out casually as I patter - w hen I get to the last
three cards, 1 get a break abo ve them as I close
the sprea d.
" U su all y. when people see a magician per-
form . especially In the context of card tricks, they
tend to blow it off by saying that it's ' a ll sleight-
of-hand.' Which is true. for the most part, but in a
sense it's oversimplifying the whole process. In ac-
tual fact. there are many different kinds of sleight
of hand. Here,let me show you what I mean ... "
Riffle do wn th e sid e of t he deck w it h your left
th umb and pro m pt a spectator to c all out " stop " .
Taking the cards into end grip, t ransfer the pinky
break ab ove the bottom three cards to the right
han d as you SW ing -cut to w here she sa id "stop ".
Proceed to peel off the top card of the right hand's
packet face-up onto the left hand 's packet.
Tell them to memorize that card, and execute Jack
Merlin's Tip-Over Ad d it io n.
TIP-OVER A DDIT IO N
Use the left thumb to j og the card to the righ t.
Using the rig ht hand 's p acket, tum the selec tion
face -down. A s you do so, drop the three cards
under the thumb break on top o f the selection.
Pro ceed to thum b off the t op card of t he left hand 's
packet o nto t he top of th e right hand 's packet ,
leaving it out-jogged. Finall y, p lace th e left hand 's
packet on top of the rig ht hand 's ca rd s.

26
Done smoothly, this whole sequence should look
as if you showed them the se lec tion , turned it ov er,
and then inserted it into t he center of the d ec k .
REALITY CH ECK
The positions of the cards at thi s point should be:
(from the top) two black King s, t he se lection , two
red Ac es , rest o t deck w it h indifferent ca rd out -
jogg ed in t he center.
Kic k L1l8 supposed select ion to t he left with the
right f inge r so yo u can grab the cards in end grip.
You' re now g oing to dribble off a small portion of
th e deck unt il on ly a doubl e remains in the rioht
hand. To do th is, grasp th e up per righ t and lower
left corners of t he upper ha lf of th e dec k, with tile
right middle Iinqer and thu mb , respectively. Place
your index finger on top o f the dec k , and start to
ap p ly pressure wi t h it as your middle finger and
thumb lift up a portion of th e ca rds above the out-
jogg ed sele ct ion . If you relax your middle finger as
t he pressure your index finger creat es inc rea ses ,
th e cards should start to dribble off of you r middle
finger. Do t his until on ly two cards are left in the
right hand [1] - with pract ice, this will com e b y feel
alone.
Position your right ring finger underneath the
packet. You 're no w going to let go with the mid -
dle f inge r and t hum b - if you apply a slight d own -
w ard s tossi ng motion, the ring fing er w ill cause
the two cards to t urn over face-up on top of the
right hand 's card s. [21
"The first kind of sleight-of-hond is the kind
that you can see happen."
Thumb off t he f irst King into the right hand, show-
ing t hat yo u've ' produced' the two black Kings. As
you do so, get a break und er the top tw o ca rd s of
t he d ec k. Proc eed to st ick the bottom -lett corner
o f the right hand's King into the b reak, and ta ke
the t hree ca rds as tw o into the righ t hand.
12j
Have your left ind ex f inge r ready to conta ct th e
out er short side or-the ou t-j ogged card in prepa-
rat ion fo r this next seq uence.
Give bot h hands a shake as th e two following ac-
tions take p lac e sim ultaneously: your left ind ex
fin ger pushes t he out-jogged card flush into the
d ec k, and your right thumb pus hes to the left to
expose t he face-dow n selecti on betw een th e two
b lac k Kings. Don e smooth ly, t his wi ll loo k as if the
ou t-jogged card teleported immed iately f rom the
left hand into the right .
" T he s ec o nd kind of sleight-at-hand is the
kind that you don 't see happen."
Raise the right hand's card s to eye- level to nasn
th e face of th e selection to th e spectators , con -
firm ing that it is indeed their c ard. As you do this,
use you r right m id dl e flnq er to p ush t he sel ect io n
upwa rd s , so th at it's no w out-jog ged by about
two inches. [31 [4]
As you're showing the selection to your spe cta-
tors , use yo ur left ha nd to get a p ink y bre ak un-
d erne at h the top tw o cards.
27
 Smoo th Operations by Kevin H

Your right han d com es back down and turns t he

pa cket face-d own on top of t he deck, wh ile kee p-
ing the sele c t ion out-j ogged. Use your rig ht fi n-
g ers to jog th is c ard d iagonall y t o t he left as yo u
grip the pac ket in en d grip position. Lift up the
packet of five card s at t he break.

At th is moment, your left f ingers are g oing to con-

tact the bottom c ard o r the packet and slide it ou t
to t he left. 5]

Your left t hum b is t hen going to p ull th e selec -

t ion out and drop it onto t he tab le as your hands
separate. 161

[3)

Execute the Stuart Gordon double turnover

[page 8] in th e right hand, as the left thumb and
f ingers turn the top card fac e-up in the left hand .
[7]

141 " Th e third kind of sleight of hand is the kind

that happens before you realize it."

Place th e right han d 's t ripl e und er th e left hand 's

Ace and turn them tac e-rto wn onto the d eck. Pro-
ceed to thumb off the top two cards and place
them onto the table.

Pick up the selection wi t h the right han d and , as

you do so , use the left hand to g et a pi nky break
under the top card. Place th e selection on top of
the deck.

28
 [7j 9J
" A n d fmalty, the last kind of sleight of h and .. .but not how.
is the kind where you know exactly what's going to
happen . .. I\t th is point , all th at 's left to do is to reveal that
the tabled cards have now tu rned into the black
As you say this , make a poi nti ng gesture to both Kings. Booyah . •
the tabled card s and the se lection on top of the
deck, imply ing that the se lection w ill somehow in-
teract with the tabl ed 'Aces' .

Pick up the cards above the break wi t h the right

ring finger and thumb in preparation for the Stuart
Go rdon double turnover. Make one or two tossing
motions to the c ard s o n the table, and on the last
motion perform the Stuart Gordon double turn -
over as your left pinky p ulls the top card down
and under the right side o f the deck. [8] As your
right hand completes the Stuart Gordon double
turnover, spread the double onto the left hand's
Ac e so that the selection is no w sandwich ed face-
dow n between the red Ac es. [9]

81

29
 Smoo th Operat ions by Kevin He

RACCOON
Li ke mo s t of th e f lou rishes
I c reat e thi s i s s o me t h in g that re-
suued from ab s ent -mind edly fiddl ing
around with a d eck of cards until I
ca me a c ross s o me t h in g cool. A lot of
peopl e h av e as ked a b o ut th is move

- e ve r s in ce It s n r at a p p ea ra n c e In a
vi d eo I m ad e with th e B u c k Breth -
e ra . s o at lon g l a st h ere it is for your
learn a ble con sum p tion.

A c a rd s sp i ns on top of the
d eck 540 d egr e e s . Al so a version
that allow s th e c ard to be spun into
infinity.

Be gin by ho lding the deck in a high mechanics grip in t he lett hand , wi t h t he right fingers also holding
the deck in a end grip position . [11

Have you r rig ht ind ex finqe r contact the top card of the de ck somewhere halfway between th e m id d le
and th e top of t he deck.

Len h c1t1d removed for I,;IClJity

30
Using the right thumb as a pivot point, have the index finger push to the left as the tip of the finger
slid es down the card somewhere slightly below the middle of the card. [2) The card will start to pivot
anti- c lo c kw ise - stop when it reaches a 45-deyree anqle.

While you're doing this, make sure that your left thumb clears the way so that the top card can slide
out. This is important, since the thumb will soon come into full use for the remainder of this flourish .

The ca rds .shoulo be positioned now so that there is a sort of 'V' crack between the card and the deck.
Insert your left thumb into this 'V ' so that the right side of your left thumb contacts the upper-right
corner of the pivoted card. [3]

Now, w ith the index finger still contacting the card, you' re going to move it forward so the card rotates
slight ly anti-clockwise between the index finger and thumb. Stop when the index finger is right above
t he middle of the deck. [4)

[3] [4)

That's all the work you're going to need from the index finger for now. The rest is pure thumb .

Start to pull the thumb towards yourse lf unti l the card rotates about 90 degrees anti-clockwise. [5]

Once you get to the position where the card is now paralle l to the deck, push your thumb to the right
to get the card to spin another 90 degrees. [61

[5] [OJ

31
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

No w for th e hardest part. At th is point you have to make sure that th e back o f your thumb is contacting
the right long edge of the card. With your index ringer pushing down w ith a light but st eady p ressure,
pu ll your th umb towards the left and then again towards yo urself, spinning the card yet another 180
degree s. [71

A ll that's left t o do is to pull t he index finger slightly to the right, and Raccoon ac complished! [8]

[B]

RACCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON
While f iddling around w it h this m ove (as I always do), I found th at if y-ou p lace the right m id dl e finger
on t he c enter of th e card rig ht before you close the move , you r-an ORt another 360 d egree spin out of
th e card by repeating the Rac co on motions. Also , once you've done that you ca n then p lac e t he ring
finger where t he mi d dle finger used to be to earn you rself so me 1260 d egree mileage. Repeat w it h
th e pinky an d w ork your w ay backwards from there, and you could end up spinning your Rac coon all
day.. . although that 's d efinitely not something yo u' d w ant to mention in public conve rsat ion . •

32
 STUCK ON YOU
'""'" Inspirat ion; Th is i s ju st me be ing an a -h o le . Sp read t he l ov e, fol k s .

t
.--
Locate y o urs elf i n m e p re s e nce of a k ind l y friend.

'- Drop a card. If y o u ' re too good to do t tus b y acc ide nt , then tor god 's sake . Ju s t
drop one on p urpose.

You r fr iend , in a n act of ki nd ness , will bend o ve r to h elp y o u p ick t he card up off
t he f loor. wh at h p. I!'> un aw a r e o f . h o we ver is tha t th i s l e av e s his back comp lete l y
e xp osed.

Du r i lty the 2-3 seconds t ha t your f ri en d i s occup Ied wi t h the f loored card , secret
take a card from th e deck in y o u r h a n d and d rop it on to y o u r fr iend 's back. Un-
Je s s y o u r fr iend happens to h av e eczema of the bac k . he shou ldn t fe el the card
the r e .

By now , y our fr i e nd should h av e p i c k ed th e ca rd up f rom t h e f loor. As h e stands

u p to ha nd th e c a r d t o you , th e ca rd on h i s back will fa ll to the ground .

Gratefull y accept t he card from your fri e n d. As you do so , poin t out the other
card o n the f loor. ?

You r fr iend , f u l l of h i!': i n fi n i t p. ne neros tt v a n d good wi ll , will again bend over to

retrie ve t he fa llen p a s l e b o ar d .
Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

COLLECTORS: REDUX
e B a c k in 20 0 4 Daniel Madison (th en known as ' The Ra in MCirl') po s t ed

( .. J "'-=
0

.-'"
~
Q.,
his effe c t 'Th e M ayhem Th eory ' on th e internet, whi eh intro d u c e d m e to t h e
i dea of fi nd ing ca rd s th rou gh t h e pro c e s s o f fi n di n g o ther ca rd s . I re -di s c o v -
ered this concept in Da n a nd Da v e Buc k' s ' C o ll e c t o r s ' f ro m t h e secon d vol -
um e of the ir N urse r y R h y me s l ectu r e n o t e s With t h e se tw o in mind. I de ci ded
'"'
- "-'"
l:
to giv e a s h ot a t t h is mo s tty -untapp eo ge nre . Whil e d o ing so, 1 c ame up w i t h
a re a l ly n ea t d isp la y that w a s n o t only h ug e , but ni c e l o o k i n g .. . k ind of li k e a
gorill a tu rd (Just not as s me ll y ) . Tw o years later, I nuauy foun d a way t o ge t
into t h e final di spl ay smoothl y , rc!>ult ing in th is littl e p ie c e I 'm a b o u t to s h ar e
wi t h yo u now .

T he m agi ci an says h e's g o i n g to fin d c ar d s in a fl a shy m a n n er. He

d oes . . . orerttc tab !e bas t a rd . "l>

SETUP ha lves, maintaining the ir order, and return the

Have the four Queens at th e bottom of the deck. It
doesn't matter what order they're in, but for aes -
thet ic p urpo ses I usu ally have them arranged in
alternating colors . Also , t he final display requires
a large table space, so make ~l IrA y Ol I hA VA one at
easy access.
For th is effect you're going to have three specta-
tors select a card.
NOTE
For sake of explanation I'll be referring to the left most spec-
tator as 81 , the center spectator as 82 , and the spe ctator
to your right as 83 . A lso , l'I~!':ll. m i ng you're into c ard m agic
primaril y to w ow the ladles, w e' ll assume all three specta-
tors are fema le.
Start off by asking S2 to cut anywhere in the deck,
and to take the card she cuts to. Return the two
deck to dealers grip.
Turn to the 5 3 and as k her to ca ll out 'slop ' as you
riff le down the side of the deck with your thu mb .
Hand her the card that she called stop at.
Finally, turn to S1 and spread out the cards, in-
structing her to take any one she fan c ies. After
she 's taken her card , cont inue spread ing the
ca rds nonchalantly until you spot the bottom four
cards of the deck (t he Queens). Get a break above
these cards.
NOTE
We'll assume tha t 51 has c hosen th e Three of Clubs, 5 2
chosen the Tw o of Clubs, and 53 has c hosen the I\ce of
C lubs. A tittle confusing , I know, but bear wi th me - it wi ll all
make sens e in the end .

Once they've each memorized their cards, have
~m place the cards b ack in the deck in the fol -
ing man ner:
Take the card s into end grip position in the rig ht
"land, and in doing so transfer the left ha nd 's pinky
oreak to yo ur rig ht t hu mb. Swing cut th e to p ha lf
of the deck over into t he left hand , an d instruct
52 t o replac e her card o nto to p of th e left hand 's
pac ket. On ce t his is done, replace the right hand 's
cards on top of th e left hands ' pa c ket. transferring
th e b reak from the right han d t o the left .
Turn to 83 and , again , riffle down the side of the
deck as yo u prompt her to call out 'sto p ' anytime.
This time, though, just lift up at the break and
ha ve her re place her card on top of the left hand 's
pac ket. Proceed to put t he right hand 's card s back
on the left hands ' , keep ing a b reak over Spec #3 's
se lection in the process.
Fina lly, spread out the cards as yo u turn to S 1.
Separate t he spread at th e break, a nd have her
pl ace her card o n t op of th e left han d's pack et.
Close th e spread, and ho ld a break abo ve S1 's
selection.
" So ... this is pretty much the same old bor-
ing trick you've seen hundreds of times before -
you pick a card . and I find it ... "
As yo u say th is, cut to the break. I personally just
usc a double under-cut , but if you w ant to lo o k
m ore 'c lea n' yo u can emplo y your favor ite pass or
other stealth-l ike c ont rol - as lo ng as you g et the
cards under the b reak to th e top , yo u're good.
Reality Check - The position of the cards now
from t he to p, face down, Shou ld be as tallows :
T hree of C lubs, Ac e of Cl ubs . th e four Quee ns ,
Tw o of Clubs, res t of deck. •
Secretly get a break under the top two cards of
the d eck.
" One way to do this is to find them one at a
t ime."
U ft off th e top tw o card s as one and p lac e th em
onto th e ta b le as a s ing le card fa c e down by ex-
,
ecuting Vernon 's appliction of overcoming frictio n
wi th t he nail from Erdnase:
Hold the double in end g rip, with the right index
finger on top of the cards. Have the index finger
positioned so that the nail is con tacting the back
of the top card. Place the card on the tab le, press -
ing d own with the index fing er so tha t the cen ter
of the face of the cards conracts the table first.
Let go with the right middle finger so tfla t the front
side of the double snaps onto the table, and im -
mediately after this let go with your rig ht thum b.
Beceus« the nail o f the ind ex finger is contacting
the b ack o f the cards, the d oub le will no t separa te
as you remove your right hand from the tab led
cards.
NOTE
Table the double ::'I S far away from you as possible, juot
eno ugh so th at it's at ar m 's leng th. Th is w ill give yo u more
space to execute the final sequence.
"However. with a littlliO hQlp ... tl
Now for the qiant -o rqlastic prod uct ion seq uence.
Take a d eep breath, fo lks, because yo u're g o ing
to need the oxygen to yo ur brain...
St art off by go ing int o first seq uence of W ing -
less Pe g a s us [page 19] - using t he left thumb,
pop out the top card and have the right f inger s
take over as they pull the card out and around th e
deck. Again, you 'll be using the right thumb to pull
the top card of th e deck o ut in a cl ockwise direc -
ti on , exc ept th is time you' ll be p ivoti ng th e card
off of the left middle f inger instead of the pi nky.
Pul l these two card s away and hold them in t he
right hand.
Yo u're now going to execute Bruce Elliot 's Brrrrtl!
B RRRRT!!
The left index finger now wraps aro und the front
edge of the d eck. [1 J
With your left thumb and o ther fingers gripping the
rest of the deck firmly. your index finger is going to
puf/ the lop card of the d eck over and aro und the
front edge of the d eck. f2] [3]
35
 Smooth Operat ions by Kevin Ho
As your left hand is compl eting this action, the
right hand is going to move forward over t he left
hand. [4]
[3]
Kee p moving your right hand forward until the
middl e and ring fingers contact the back of the
t abled double. As soon as t his happens, start to
36
pull your righ t hand back towards yourself, d is-
lod ging t he top ca rd of the double. [5]
[4]
Continue dragging the top card of the double to-
w ard s yourself until there's about a foot between
it and the other tabled card.
Change your grip on the deck in your left hand so
that the deck is held between th e thumb and the
ot her four fingers. The thumb should be on to p,
and the four fingers should all contact th e back
of the out-jogged card. Lower you left hand to-
w ard s the table so that the deck is between t he
two tabled cards. Now lower you r hand straight
down and co ntact the table w ith the right edge of
th e deck.
Your left fingers are no w going to pull upwards and
to the left . This shou ld cause th e out-jogged card
and th e top card of th e deck to s lide ou t, leaving
th e remainder of the deck on th e table. [6]
Your left hand positions its face-up Queen so that it is to the left of the upper gap between the th ree
face-down ca rds in a row. 0 0 the same w it h the right hand 's Queen, except to the right of the gap
between the three-card row. [7J

Leave the face-u p Queens in t hose pos it io ns , and proceed t o slide the two fac e-d own cards in either
hand into the other gaps. t urn ing t hem face-u p in the process. [8J

[B] [91

Finish by turning ove r the three face-down cards one at a time , starting w it h the one furthest from you
and ending w it h the one nearest to you. The one furthest from you will belong to the spectator on your
right (83), th e middle on e to the middle spectator (82), and so on. The final display should look like:
~91

.....perhaps finding cards can be interesting after all. "

37
 Smooth Opera tions by Kevin Ho

VISA SWITCH
In G req o r v Wil son's instruction -
a l vi de o , Ca rd S t u n t s , he h as a routine
wh e re h e w oul d m ak e it ap pea r lik e
h e w a s m a gi c ally r emoving t he f our
A ce s f rom a dec k in side a card cas e.
On e of t he move s invol v ed him p inch-

.- in g t h e d e ck b o x b y th e s ide with an
ac e nero unu er n eem to pr ouuce lila !
a c e , h e woul d m ak e a to s sing mot ion
d o w n wa r ds , ca u s tn q th e d eck box to
f oil i nt o t he l eft h and, revea ling the
A ce In th e ri gh t . On e da y I tried do -
in g th e m ov e without th e c ards in th e
box , and d isc o vere d that it cOll in h A
u s e u as a ca r d s w t t c f as well. Pur ther
exp e r im e nt at io n and re f in e me n t l ed
to th e h an d l ing I n ow p rese n t to you.

SETUP
With the deck held fac e-u p, t he card to be switched in should be face-down on bottom of the dec k.
The switc hed ca rd is the c ard on th e face .

Pinc h the right lo ng side of the deck betwe en t he

righ t thumb an d fi ngers. [1] Your thumb should
have a shallow grip on the deck - just enough to
let go w it h yo ur left han d and not have t he cards
fa ll.

Now, yo u' re going to make a d ow nwa rd tos sing

m ot io n wi t h the d eck. As you d o this, have -your
righ t t humb relax its grip slig ht ly.

What will happen is that all t he cards above

th e bottom face-down card will flip 180 de-
grees into your left hand, face down . [2] [3] .,
(Make sure your left hand is low enough un-
der the right hand so that the packet can make
a half-revo lution.) This creates th e illus ion that down and are now holding it in your right hand.
you've turned the pre viously-shown card face •
38
 [2]
VISA E X C H A N GE
EFFECT
A card is selected and tabled. The magician re-
moves two mates from the deck, w hic h t hen in-
stantly turn into the tab led se lec tion. The magician
then reveals that the tabled card has c hanged into
none other than the the two mates .
SETUP
Find any pair of mates (in t his case I' ll use the red
Aces) and p lace them back- to-back. Place th e
rest of the deck face-up on top of these cards.
Begin by spreading the cards face-up and hav -
ing the spectator name an y card t hat t hey see.
Remove the card t h ey name and place it on top
of the deck.
Execute the Visa switch and lay th e 's election '
(actually one of the red Aces) onto the tab le , face
down. As you do this, snap the bottom righ t cor-
ner of the card onto the table - th is will leave t he
inner right corner of the ca rd bent up wards, w hich
will aid in the f inal reveal during the last seq uence
of the effect.
Now you 're going to produce the two ' m at es ' as
follows ~ grasp the deck as in the Visa switc h,
except with yo ur fingers located on t he center of
the deck instead of on the side. You 're no w go-
ing to make a left-ward s tossing motion towards
yo ur left hand , w hile keeping a slig ht pressu re on
t he deck. This will cause the middle portion of the
[3~
deck to get tossed int o yo ur left hand, leaving the
former top and bottom cards in your right.
Tab le t he d eck, and count the right hands' cards
into you r left hand, reve rsing t he order.
You're no w go ing to execute a Flustrati o n Count
t o sho w t hat yo u have the two red Aces.
FLUSTRATION COU NT
Pick up the two -card p acket with th e righ t hand
in end grip, and turn the p alm up to flash the fac e
of th e bottom card (a red Ace) to th e spec tator.
Proceed to turn your right hand back p alm-down,
fmri with the left thumh p eel off the to p card into
the left hand. Again, turn your right han d p alm -up
to show what is supposedly the other re d A ce.
After sho w ing t he 'seco nd ' Ace, place it on top of
th e other card, jog ged t o t he right. Your left hand
now ho lds both cards , th umb on top of the side-
jogge d card.
To 'c hang e' the two cards into the selection , wave
you r left ha nd over the tabled card, at the same
ti m e sq uaring th e left hand's cards together w it h
t he left t humb.
Perform Ve rn o n's Th rough the Fist Flourish
[paqe 7] to reveal that the Aces have now turned
into their selection. Proceed to pinch the right
side of the double w it h the rig ht fingers - thumb
on top , f ingers be low.
39
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

To reveal t hat the tab led card is now the two Ac es ,

you're going to perform an act ion that's sim ilar to
the final d itch in Punk'd [page 8\ but slightly di f-
ferent.

Start off by pressi ng the left index finger on the

left lon g sid e of the tabl ed ca rd to hold it in p lace.
Because .o f the bend you m ade to th e inner rig ht
corner of the ta bled ca rd earlier in the effect, you
should have no p roblem st icking the left side of
the double, face-up, into the gap creat ed betw een
the card and the table.

You 're no w going to use the righl hand's double

to t urn th e tabl ed card face-up , w it h th e left ind ex
finger as a p ivot poin t. As t he t abl ed card stcrte
to t urn face-up, use the right fingers to push out
the bottom card of the double. When the tabled
card fin ally turns over on the tab le, drop the ca rd
you pushed out from underneat h the double on
top of that card , revealinq the se lectio n pre viously
tabled has turned into the two red Aces.

VISA SPLIT
This is just anoth er idea wi th the Visa Switc h that
relies less on its discrepancy as a switch and m ore
on its visual aspect as a change.

SETUP
Find two mates (in th is case , I' ll use the two b lac k
Tw os) and orientate t hem face-to -face. Place th e
rest of the deck face-up on top of these card s.

Holding the deck face-u p, run th rou gh the deck

and fin d the c ard that the values of t his pair of
m ateo will add up to. In th is case , since we 're us-
ing t he two black Tw os, remove a b lack Fou r and
place it on top of d ec k.

Exec ute the Visa Swi tch . Becau se t he t op tw o

cards are face- to - fac e instead of back-to-back, it
will now look like the tour has visually spl it into its
factored co mponents - two bl ac k Tw os .

Th is is just a basic concept for you to toy around

w ith - what you do w it h it is u p to you. •

40
GETTING INTO SHAPE
('If tns p n-at ron : On e of the bea u t i f u l t hi n g s about fl ou ri sh e s is that y ou r-an pract ice
:.. and perform t hem at t he s am e ti m e. In ot h er w ord s, u n like m a gi c th e r e i s I1 U r eat

=
.-
~

.....
n e e d to present a t to u r ts h wi th p at t er and w h a tnot • the vi su al s speak for them-
sel ves . Ho we ve r, that i s not tu sa y th at it ca n 't be do ne. Here 's a short rout ine I
do to in trodu ce a fe w f lo ur is hing c o ncepts to l a y p e o pl e .

Note: In t hi s rout ine I mention a couple of f lour ishes , but do not proceed to ex
plain them.

Start ott by do ing a couple of your favorite flourishes to visually de rn on s t r at e

what 's physica lly possible with a deck of cards.

IJ , YII~dl in dnd VI "

e T m :# C GI U I r' u of professionalIsm nd
S9

fmes e to theIr perrorm ces And utlllke magIc he e tlJe d ettcutt or m -

DOS Ip s m~d8 10 fonl( ee r the OPPOS/t true for "ourlshes the lJerdflr
f1 OOl(S t e I'rarde s o d be to perform It sounds ~ortfus ng
5 ". , h ~nFr s

Us i n g w hateve r m e a n s suits y ou best t o form a t riangl e with t he cards us ing both

or yuur hand s.

o. •

C lose t h e tri an gl e d isp la y , an d pro ceed t o exe c ute a o ne- handed square to - rna -
bon with the cards.

t _ "ec

Set the deck on the table, In preparat ion for what Wilt appear to b e your legend-
ary hands-off rectang le displa y . A ft e r a moment of silent tension, s u d d e n l y relax
and gesture towards the shape a t the deck on the tab le.

nn

Trust me - th p. hp.::lt ina you 'll get i s w el l w o r t h it

41
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

FULLY LOADED
.-...
One of the f irst t h i ngs I c r e at e d w h en I
( e ::. ldl tln l uuL w a s a n Ace p ro d u c.t i o n i n the e h ap e of
a cross . The or ig ina l h an dlin g I u s e r! at the t ime

.-...
'll

Q.
was k ind of s lopp y a nd cu mbe r s o me , but I li k e d
the id ea of t he fi n al d isp la y so I co nt inued to w o r k

.-
o n i t f o r a w hil e . About a y e a r and a ha lt l a t e r, I f i -

- "-
C nn l ly came up w i t h not on l y an (r el ativ ely) eas y ace
prod uction that was vi s u al and etnc tent . b u t a lso
a p rese ntat ional i d e a that w o u l d l o g i c ally l e a d into
th e to rmatton of the fina l d isp la y.

A qu ick effect wi t h w o r d s to say as the four

• aces come in t o p lay Oka y , it's a tour RC":P. oro doc-
t ion.

SETUP
From a face-down d ec k: Two Kings on top , rest of dec k, and t w o Kings on bottom. I usuall y have the
Kings paired by colors, as it makes the vis ual arrangement of t he Kings in the final display seem more
organ ized.

Begin w it h the d eck face-down in the left han d .

"Have you ever heard of the phrase ' C ard s
as Weapo ns? Well, It'S the title of a book on card
throwing by legendary magician Ricky Jay - the
term itself is an allusion to a pack of playing card's
ability to not only function as a wonderful play-
thing, b ut also as an arsenal of fifty -two deadly...
rectangles. For example, a well-trained card han-
dier could 'load ' a unit of ammo into the device as
such :"

As you say this, p lac e th e top card int o th e d eck

as in: [1
1

42
 .... .and with one fli ck of the wrist, fire th e
card acros s the room at sp eeds up to 80 miles an
o ur! '

To demonstrate, shoot the out-jogged card into

your right han d a la the las t phase of Daryl's H ot
Shot cu t.

HOT S HOT CUT CARD SP IN

With your left index fing er curled on bottom of
the d eck and your left thu mb on top, use your lefl
m iddle finger to ap p ly up ward pressure to the bot-
tom right corner of the out-jogged card. If you ap-
ply a forceful am o unt of pressure quickly, the card 21
will shoot out o f the d eck in a clockwise direction.
Catch this card with y our right hand. a lot will be happening at th is point so I'll break it
down into t he 3 major ac tions taking place sim ul-
"Many of our greatest pres idents have fallen taneou sly:
at the hands of a disgruntled card handler."
1. Sim ilar to the action in step 1 of PCP [page 24J,
At this poi nt, get a left p inky break above the bot- use the rig ht ind ex fing er to pi vot out t he t o p card
tom card. Re- ins ert t he shot-out c ard into th e of the deck until it 's perpendicular to t he d ec k .
sarne position as in. [1_
2. Turn th e right hand palm-up until th e face of the
" Ho we ve r. the current methods em ployed bottom card of the deck shows.
by renowned card assassins are inefficient at best.
As adept as they are at sleight-of-klll. they are only 3 . Orientate your left middle finger so t hat t he card
able to produce one card at a time." pi voted between it and yo ur right mi ddle fin ger is
facing th e sam e way as t he ot her t hree Kings.
This next sequence is the get-ready fo r the up-
coming prod uctio n: With your rig ht hand, g rasp End with a final d isplay lhal looks like. 131
th e dec k in end grip so that t he t hu m b is at the
inner edge, and the right middle finger is at t he
o ut er ed g e of the deck, directl y next to the out-
jogged c ard .

"Nonetheless, I've found that if you cocked

the deck..."

Tran sfer t he left hand's p inky break to a thum b

b reak in t he right hand. Now t hat your left hand is
free to move around, use it to make a back-and -
forth 'coc king' gestu re with the deck.

On th e down-stroke. move yo ur left han d to the

bac k. of the deck so t hat th e left mi ddle finger is
contacting the c ent er o f the short side of th e card
below the break. [2J " ... you can get Fully Loaded."

AWESOME!!!! •
Now fo r t he actual prod uct io n. Just lik e t he other
cross p ro duction in the Florida Count [page 22],
43
S rr ro ot h 0 11P,rMionJ> hy Kevtn Hn

·CONS P I R ACY OF FClUR

.-e C
o
..
I actua ll y h ave no i d e a ho w I
cre a t e d this one. Bottom l i ne i s th at I
d id . Enjo y .

.- Q.

- .- ~

The m ag ic ian offers to find a f ou r o f 0. ki n d

oth er than the four Aces . A ll goes w el l u nt il t h e
fourth and fina l productio n - i t' s a n Ace . Ilo we ver,
w i t h i n the b link of an e ye , the ot h e r three cards
instantly t ur n i n t o t h e other three Aces , f o r m in g a
complete four -of - a -kind after a ll .

SETUP
Fro m the top of the deck, face-down: two Aces , X card , Ace, face-up Ace , rest of deck, card w it h same
value as X ca rd but of a different color. For presentational purposes , I usually try not to have the Ace
of Spades be the to p card of the deck.

NOTE " Th e reason this is actually a lot easier than

I usual ly ge t into the J>P,tlll1for t hls effect as foll ows : The fo ur
AGes are found and co ntro lled to the top. I sp ot the bottom
c ard (in this case let 's say it's t he 7 of Hearts ) and spread
t hro ug h the deck to fInd a black Se ven . Once 1do, I place
it so it's third from the top, and th en 1tu rn th e Ace fac e-up
as req uired .
" Have you ever heard of an 'A c e Produc-
tion'? It's when a magician, through some sort of
fancy maneuver, manages to find the four Aces in
a shuffled deck of cards."
As yo u say this, produc e t he to p card of th e dec k
in yo ur favorite fash ion, demonstrati ng w hat you
just ment ion ed .
It looks Is because the Aces have a lot of white
space on them.,; "
Point ou t all the w hite spac e on the Ace .
" ... meaning that a magician can simply look
through a deck of cards, spot which cards have the
least in k, and subsequently find the four Aces with
ease: '
Turn t he Ac e bac k face- down on top of t he deck .
Perform a false cut of your choic e that reta ins the
top and bottom stock of th e dec k , mak ing it look
like you lost the Ac e bac k into th e deck.
 "So what I'm going to try and do now, as a
challenge to myself, is to find a four-of-a-kind that
isn't the four Aces."
Riffle d own the sid e of the d ec k and ask fo r a
spectator to call o ut 'sto p ' at any poi nt . Regard-
less of w here th ey c all 'sto p' at , swing c ut ab o ut
half of the .d ec k into left hand, and set the rest of
the c ard s in t he right ha nd onto the table . Fin ish
by taking the left ha nd 's card and dropp ing t ho se
on top of th e tabled packet - th is whole sequence
will look as jf yo u've just cut the card s t o w here
yo ur spectator requested, w here in actuality the
card s aren 't being cut at all.
" Alright, no going back now - let 's see what
we got."
Exec ute a triple lift, rev ealing t he first Seven .
"Ah, a Seven - these kind of look like the
Sixes and the Eights from the outside, but I should
be able to find the rest."
Turn th e t riple back face-d ow n and tab le th e to p
card .
To produce t he next Seven , start by executing
Derek Ding le's Bottom Slip Cu t .
BOTTOM SLIP CUT
Get a break above the bottom card by either d oing
a p inky -p ulldown or a buckle. Swing cut the top
half o f the de ck int o y our left han d, and as y ou do,
pull the bottom card along with it. [1]
"]
Place yo ur left index finger underneath the left
hand's packet, and t he right ring finger on the
rig ht side of th e right hands packet.
You 're now going to do a Hermann Pass-type mo-
ti o n w it h the two packet s. Start by jam m ing t he
left sid e of t he right hand 's pac ket into the t hum b
c ro tch. At the sam e time, pu sh o ut w it h the left
ind ex finger - th is w ill c ause the left hand 's pac ke t
t o move ou tw ards to th e right. [2] Fo llow throug h
w ith these motions, and the left hand 's packet w ill
slide out and over the rig ht hand 's packet .
PJ
As the top packet sta rt s to fall o nto the bottom
o ne, insert yo ur left t humb between the two pack-
ets . Con tinue by using yo ur left thu mb to slide the
botto m c ard of t he top packet out and around [3],
so that the Seven ends up face-up on top of the
d eck.
As yo u let t he production of the second Seven set
45
Smooth Operations b Kl 'in Ho

in, obtain a break under the top two card s. Pro-

ceed by exe cuting t he Illo gical Turn ove r.

ILLOGI CAL TURNOVER

Pinch the right sid e o f the double with the right
fingers , thumb on top. Begin to slide the double
towards the right - at the same time, start to tum
your left hand pa lm-d own. As soon <1S the left side
of the doub le is in con tact with the right sid e of the
d eck, turn your left hand p alm-down completely
over the double, effec tively turning the Seven over
on top of the d eck without exp osing the A ce be-
hind it.

W ithout flash ing the face of the Ace , bring yo ur

left han d up to your face and thu mb off the top
card into your mouth .

"'M m m mph hmmff ngggh nn ggggh ffrrrg

mnnnggh"

As you mumble unintelligi ble nons en se out of

you r card-occupied m outh, hol d th ree fingers up
to indicate that you 'r e now going to fin d t he t hird
Seven .

Lift off half of the dec k w ith your right han d. Your
left index fing er is now going to contact the inner 5
sh o rt s ide of t he right hand 's packet . N ow, use
yo ur right ind ex f inger to beg in to swivel th e to p
card o f th e deck out cloc kwise, lik e in step 1 of
PCP [page 24] . Once t he card is dislod ged , con-
t inue to pivot this card between the righ t m iddle
fin ger and left index finger until it drops o n top of
the left hand', packet. [41

W hat thi s acco m p lishes is a false sw ing c ut , as

w ell as burying one of t he seve ns into the c en te r
of the dec k.

To produce the thi rd Seven , the left thumb con-

tacts the inner left c orn er of the right hand 's pack-
t::L and star ts to slid e the top ca rd out to the left .
[5J
Remove the thumb, and press down wit h the right
hand 's pac ket - this w ill result in the Seven being
Once this c ard is pulled about two inch es to the
out -jogged in t he cent er of th e deck . (7'
left, us e the rig ht hand 's pac ket to t urn it over
face-u p o n top of t he thumb . [6}
Remove t he Se ve n an d o penly pl ace it, fa ce down ,
at th e bo tt o m of th e d eck.

REALITY CHECK
At thi s point the cards on t he tab le. in yo ur mouth , and
on top of the dec k shou ld au be Aces. ;:IS well as the
fac e-up ca rd secon d from the top o f the deck.
Your right hand no w takes the deck into Long Dis-
tance Spi nner position.
LONG DISTANCE SPINNER
Plac e th e deck of cards in to your right hand so
that (assuming horizontal orientation of the cards)
the upper right corner of the deck is held between
the index finger and middle finger, and the lower
right corner is held between the ring finger and
pinky. [8] You'll want to have the cards in a deep
grip for this, s ince that will result in more p res-
SUrA hP.inO nnut, which will aid in the shooting out
o f the ca rd. Place your right thumb a t the fower
rig ht corner of the deck so that the fleshy tip of the
thumb contacts the card as close to your pinky as
p ossible.
[81
NOTE
I do the L.D.S. kind of w eird , so in the pictures I' m ho ld ing
the card s between my index 1inQer and rin g finger Instead
of my index finger and p inky. Wh o know s, it mi ght wo rk fo r
yo u too - use wh atever gnp yo u fi nd most comfortable and
effective.
W ith yo ur left hand , hold up four fingers to indi -
cate that you 're go ing to find the fo urth and fi nal
Sev en . Pro ceed to th en execute th e Lo ng Dis-
t ance Spinner, catc hi ng the shot -o ut ca rd in the
left ha nd .
With the tip of your right thumb contacting the in -
ner right corner of the card, proceed to add pres-
sure upwards and to the left with the thumb. When
the p ressure reaches its peak, flick outwards and
le t go quickly with the thumb. [9] This will cause
the top card to shoo t out o f the d eck in a clock-
wise direction. After much practice, it's p ossible
to control the distance an d direction of the L.D.S .
according to your needs.
[9}
Wh ile 0.11this is happening, ample misdirection is
provided fo r you to do th e fol lo wing bastard -easy
sw itch:
Simply re-qrip the cards in the right hand so that
the cards are no w held in dealer's grip, with the
ace show ing on top of the deck. [10] [111 1121
47
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

ing th eir attentio n to t he fact t hat th e ot her Seven

is now an Ace as w ell. A ll that '5 left lo d o is to re-
veal th e cards in your mout h and on the tabl e, and
you've got yourself an oth er trick accom p lished.

"I gue s s the A c e s w ere easier t o find after

all."

NON L.D.S. VERSION

Th ere are c ert ain points of time where you might
not w ant to use the Long Distance Sp inner: in a
room w it h low or f rag ile c eilings, during a windy
day or a sand storm, or in any case w here you
r10] don 't th ink you can pull o ff lhe move reliab ly. With
that in mind , you ca n st ill d o th e trick using the
follow ing met hod :

Flash back to right aft er you'v e p rod uc ed the t hird

Seven and placed it on th e bo ttom at t he deck,
face d ow n. No w, ins tea d of p roc eeding t o p lace
th e c ards in L.D.S. posit io n, si mply grip the d ec k
in end grip, w ith the righl ind ex finger on top.

Again, m ak e t he gesture w it h your left hand to

ind icate t hat you're going t o produc e th e fourth
Seven . Now, ho ld ing th e d ec k horizontall y wi t h
th e bottom faci ng your spectat ors , use t he right
[11 ind ex finger t o pivot t he top c ard of the deck out
in a clockwise di rec tion, producing the Ac e. As t he
d isappointm ent sinks in, lake the jus t-prod uc ed
Ace with your left hand, an d move it to th e left
as you look at t he fac e. Wi t h th is act ing as m is-
d irect ion, casually drop your right hand d ow n to
above-w aist level. Aft er acting surpri sed that th e
fourth card w as n't an ace, look down to your right
hand to reveal t hat t he othe r Se ven has turned
into an Ace as w ell, and then proceed verb at im
wi t h t he rest of the effect. •

121

Afte r (hopefull y) being wowed by th e s howy pro-

duction , your spe ctators w ill realize that th e ca rd
yo u're holding in you r lett hand is not a Seve n,
prompting th em t o not react as m uch as if you
had gotten the right card . Act puzz led. and t hen
look t owards th e cards in your right hand , di rect-

48
 t-
TAKING THE PISS
~ I ns p i ra t ion: For t he past 5 a n d a h alf y ea rs t ha t I'v e bee n in t o m a g i c , a lot o f
:.. m y ti m e h as b e en s pe nt r ead ing onl in e c ar u -r e ta teu f or u m s - bro ws i n g throug h ,

=
l;,,)

,-
_
tak ing i n ad vi c e , a nd p er haps contribu t ing someth ing in r e t u r n e ver y o n ce i n a
w hil e . A ft er a whi le , I st a rte d to not ice t h at In e v ery forum , t h ere w a s on e top ic
th at w ou ld p o p u p consta ntl y - the i s s u e of hand con d it ion s aff ect i ng c ard p er
form anc e. T he f i rst kind , s w e a t y ha n d s . h a s h a d It s f ai r sha r e a t prop os e d s o tu -
l ions - m ed ica l tre atment , ca rr y ing t o we ls a r ou n d, performi n g und erwater wi t h
p la s t ic card s. et c . H o weve r. not m uc h h a s b een sa id abo ut t he oth e r k i n d of
p a lm - re l at ed bio log i c a l disad va ntage : t hat of d r y h an d s . S e e ing as h o w t here are
n ume r ru rs effects a n d s le i g h t s out th ere th at req u ire t h e u s e o f f r ict ion to w o r k,
h avin g hands lha t ar e tf r y e r th an av e r ag e c an be a rea l b umm e r. So , wit h o ut rur -
t he r ado , I prese n t you m y s o l u t i o n t o t hi s comm o n prob lem .

S e tu p : B e f o re go i ng out to pe rfor m , d r in k at l e a st 5 g lass e s o f w a t e r. I n 0. ro w ,

pref erab l y . Re me mber to w e a r d a rk -co lored pants .

Using one of t he i t e m s in the n o tes ;'I~ a n e xampl e . l e t' s sa y y o u p lan t o perfo rm

L o n g D iv i si o n whi c h requi r es yu u Lu us e y u u r I ~ H i n d e x fi ng e r to pus h
out t h e bottom c ard of t h e top h al f of t he deck . If yo u r h ands are t o o d r y , this w i ll
be prac t i ca ll y impo s s i b l e to do . N o w orri e s, t h i s wBJ be f ixed in a sec o n d.

H a ve the card se le c te d b y y o u r sp ect ato r s. A s th e y 're m emo nzmq t ne tr cards ,

sec re t l y ur in ate d i r ec t l y i n t o y o u r pants at a st eady and c o ntro lled rate. If yo u
pract ic e th i s r e gu la r ly li k e I d o , you s hould b e able to g et to th e poin t w h e r e you
can d is ch arg e a b out a qua rte r o f a tit er at w il l.

B e ca use your pa nts a re u f a dctrk e ctor. y u u r spectato r s s h o u ldn 't not ice t he w e t
spot t h at will fo rm a s a resu lt of t his hidden maneuve r. I ' ve f ou n d that i f y ou w e a r
a r m y- t y p e pants that alread y h av e d ifferently co lored p a tc hes ac t ing as ca mo u -
f la ge , y o u can g et aw ay with t h is a lot ea s i e r.

No w , ull you have to do is to s ubt l y dro p y ou r l e ft h a n d to your s i d e mom entarily

and touch the l eft in de x finger t o th e d amp spo t in you r jea ns Tb e mots turw
sho u ld be enough fo r you to c o m f o r t a b l y perform an y fricti on - b a s e d m ov e s w i th-
out wo r ry nf f allur a

Again , t his is s imply a concep t f o r y o u to play arou nd wi th. N o t e veryo ne h a s d r y

han d s , s o I ' m su r e you ca n f i n d a u se for It other than th e on e g iv en. T he p oss i-
b i lit i es a re end less: card loca t i o n b y sc e nt m ar k ing , using the n atu ral ot tc k tn e o o
to lap It e m s whil e sta nd ing . putt ing out t he ttre tr am y o u r K a p s W a l l et . e t c et c .
A n d i f y o u d on 't l i k e i t, w e ll ... p iss off.
 Smooth Operations by Kevin HI')

BOB CHANGE
~ e If you 're ask ing y o u r s el f "wh y th e hell IS it ca lled The Bob Cnanqe?",
0 then yuu c learly haven 't s e e n t he En z y t e commer c tc t. Anyway, this handling
.+:
\ • j
f )
...
ell
••
Q.
o f th e S l e e v e Change stemm ed from th e fact tha t , a s visual as change s li ke
th e S l e e v e Chan g e and the S tra p e s h ttte r were, on e o f thei r fl a w s was t hot the
shap e of the c ard s changed a l o n g w i t h the card - t h e orientati on ot the c ard

-
~
chang ed complet e l y , which migh t c at c h ure attention of an ob s ervant ap e etc

.-'"
l: tor. My proposed solut ion in th is handl ing i s to t urn the in herent discrepancy
o n its head. me anmg that i n s t e a d o f ha v ing th e card cbanqe its or ient at ion ,
th e fingers gr ipping i t w oul d, resu lt ing i n a cha nge where the c a rd appears to
be i n the s ame posit io n throughout.

With the s u b t l e wav e of the hond, 0 face -up card v i s u a ll y changes right
b ef o r e your sp e ctator!': ey es. ?

Here's an overview of beginning and ending positions of the c hange: {1 l2]

I": J

To start, have a card face up on the deck, and a face-down card underneath it that you w ant to change
it to. Get a break under these two cards.

50
Place your right pinky on the outer right corner of t he double, and your rig ht thumb on the inner left
corner. [3J

Wit h your left ind ex fin ger acti ng as fulcrum , rotate the ca rd fo rward int o the position shown in: [4]

Hold the card so t hat it's fac ing yo ur spectator(s). Make sure that your arm is as straight as possible -
not so muc h that it looks like you 're a Nazi , bu t just enough so that your elbow isn' t too bent eith er.

M ake su re th at the ca rd is completely straight at t his point - th e assuranc e of this fact is what makes
the c hange w ork.

l3J

Start to shake th e c ard from left to rig ht , moving t he w ris t more so than t he arm, light ly but firm ly. As
you do this, have your middle and ring fingers cl ear t he way as you pu ll in wi t h your index finger until
the card is about parallel t o the ground. [5]

Continue b y pu shin q o u t w ith y o ur index finger, ro ta ting the double c om p letely around, 180 degrees.
Once t his is done, place your middle and ring fing ers on t he top of the card. [6]

Throughout the whole c han ge, make sure that your w rist is t urning a f ull 90 degrees anti -clockwise.
This ensures that yo ur arm stays straig ht t hrough th e w hol e process, and that the card ends up as

51
 Smnn th Oper attons hy Kevtn Ho

straight as possible at the end.

To clean up, let go of t he double w it h your ring

finger and pinky and push out wit h your index fin -
ger as yo u rotate yo ur w rist 90 degrees clockw ise.
The card should end up between your right middle
finger and thumb. [7J

[n

Place the double back on top of the d eck. •

52
THICKER THAN WATER
~ I n s pi r a t i o n : I ' m not a h u g e f an o f m arking sys te ms. Mo st o f the co co o nes re-
:.. qu ire a lo t of p repa ra t io n in a d va n ce , an d as a pe rso n wh o pre fers to perform

=
Q)

a:=
material th at ca n be do ne with a bo r ro wed deck I f in d t h is to be m ore w o r k than
i t ' s w or th . O n th e o t he r h an d, mo s t of th e m arking m etho d s th at ca n b e done
o ff- t he-cu ff u sually involve t he c a r d being damage d in som e way, e ith e r thr ou g h
lH:H1 d ~ , c r tm ps ur s c r a t c he s . S e e i n g a s bow I do a l ot uf ttourtshe s in ao cit ton t u
m y magic , these u s u ally imp e d e on how th e ca r ds h andl e, so on c e aga i n th e i n -
con ve n ience o u t we tq hs its w orth . So , a ft er mullin g o ve r t hi s f or q u ite s o me ti m e ,
I f ina l ly c c rn c u p with an improm ptu m a rkin g s ys t e m th a t d o e sn' t a ffec t t he w a y
yo ur cards h an dl e a fte r wa rds. I ca ll i t 'Th e P la i n v i e w Te chniqu e ' - e ruo v .

Sta rt off b y ha v i ng a card se lected a nd m em ori z e d . Ta ke t h e c ard back fr om t he

s pectato r, and in s ert i t int o t he ce n te r o f th e d e ck. As you d o t h is, sec r e t l y s ide-
jog th e card to t he r i g h t in the pro c e s s.

Yo u ' re n ow go ing t o g rip th e d e c k wi th t he r i gh t hand in end g r i p . Ha ve y ou r l e ft

mi d dl e fi n g e r co ntac t th e ri ght long s ide o f the s i d e- j ogge d se lec t i o n a nd appl y
a f irm p ress ure t o it.

Yo u r l eft h a nd i s now go i n g to move beck -and -tcgtb qui ckly as y o u appear t o

~f1 U8rF! t h F! rle c k . If you rio t h i s quickly , the std e -jon ned se le c t i o n s h outd !Jive a
p a p er cu t t o y our l ef l middle rtn qer. Repeat the s q uarin q mo lion, a flo winq tile
bl o o d f ro m t he w oun d t o pa i nt t h e righ t edge o f t he card red. Once t h is i s d o n e ,
sq uare t h e c a rd in t o t h e dec k and h av e it sh uffled by the spectator.

O nce t h e y ' r e co n te n t th at th e ca rds ha ve bee n f ai rl y mixed , ta ke t he de ck b ack

from th em an d sub t l y pe rfo rm an an-aro u nd s q uare - u p mo t ion un til you notice
w h e r e th e r e d lin e i s . Proceed to f i n d and r ev e al t h e c a r d in y o u r fa vor ite m an-
ne r.

Alternate Handling; Hav e ano the r c a rd selec ted , a n d thi s t i me l et th e sp ectat or

p lace it back into t he d eck, l e aving it sticki ng o u t a b o u t h alf it s l en gth.

Your r i g h t h a nd is n o w goi ng to beg i n to p us h th e ca rd in f l u s h wi th th e deck . To

do t h rs . st art o tt by c o n t ac t i n g the o ute r l ett e dge ot t he o u t- Jogged card wrth
th e r i g h t middle finger. Beg in to push th e ca rd in, an d as y ou do 30 hav e th e
r ig h t mid d le fi nger qui ck ly sl ide a cross the wi dt h o f t he ca rd , fro m l e ft to righ t.
T h is w i ll cau s e a not her p ap e r cu t, t h e blood s ta i ni ng th e o u te r s h o r t e dg e o f t h e
s e le c t i o n thi s time P r o c ee d normal ly from th i s p o i n t

I ' v e a l so d i scovered tha t i f yo u control t h e amou nt of b lood th a t come s out from

y ou r rtn c e r s (t hi s will come with pract ice ), you c a n act ua l l y pr in t des ired i m a g e s
on thc o td c of t he deck in t he p ro oc o s . T ha t wa y , y ou C3 n do s t uff li k e U ns h uffle d
wit h a bo r rowed pack - t he sky 's th e limi t wh en it comes t o ttu s co ncept. W el l ,
that a n d you r h e alth.

53
 Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

mPAINTED
c w nu e pracnc tnq in f ront of a

I .:o: m irror a f ew years ago , I acc identa l

Iy did two diffe rent fans at t he same

.-
:ll
~
Q.
tim e, resulting i n the d isco ver y of th is
neat , magi c a l - look ing flo urish Yo u ' ll

- .-'"
C
ha ve to p ractic e fan n ing ur e l e l t-
handed way to g et th is to look good ,
but In my op in ion i t ' s w ell w o r th it.

-=c
.c
$:
A blank f a n of cards i s seen
Wiltl i::I quick w av e , th e f a ces o f the
cards v isuall y a p pea r.

Basically, the method for RePainted is to execute a blank fan in the right hand, followed by a reverse
fan combined wit h a one-handed fan closer at th e same time . Here 's ho w to do it in more detail.

Start off by doing a standard blank fan in your right hand. [1.1J I've found that this flo urish works better
if you use the first joint of t he right thumb instead of the lip as the p ivot point for th e fan. [1 .2]

With your left hand , contact the left side of the fa n, and in a w ipi ng acti on, begin to close the fan. The
right ind ex and middle fing er curl inward, creating leverage, and help push the fan closed.

As you're closing the fan wit h you r left hand , your righ t ha nd execu tes a o ne-hand ed fan closer by
curling yo ur m iddle f inger insward and then in tan dem w it h th e ring finger, ext end the middle finger as
the ring f inger c urls inward, rotating the fan ant i-c loc kwise from your poi nt of view. f2.11 r2 .21

Keep doing t his until th e ca rd s become completely squ ared . [3. 1 1 (3.21

Now comes th e tricky part - w it hout lo sing any inert ia, continue t he action of closing the fan w it h t he
left hand. Wh ile d oing t his, beve l the left edge of th e d eck and cont inue th e one-hand ed fan c los er
action. [4]

As this happens , it w ill be nec essary for t he right ind ex finger to furth er fan the card s by push ing the
54
inn er right edge of th e fan to th e left . [5 .1J [5.2J

To create the illusion the fan is changing from a blank fan into a fan with faces, practice until the end
result is clean and displays as ma ny indices as possible . [B .1]

So metimes you can be put off by the shape of the fan from the back [6.2]. so do practice in front of a
mirror so you can see how the shape of your fan turns out as you p roq ress w ith this mo ve .

[1.1J .'.....
' 01

[2.1]

[3 11 [3.2J
Smooth Operations by Kevin Ho

[41

[5.11 15.2J

[6 .1J ~!i21

NOTE
For t hose of you w ho just can 't get a decent left-hand ed thumb fan. you can always do it the rig ht -handed w ay to get
·UnPai nted'. While it lac ks the logical progression of th e orig inal flouri sh, it' s st ill visually stylistic , so if you're okay w ith t hat
then by all means go fo r it.

I usu ally perform th is as mo re ot a flou rish than as a q uickie m agic effec t , so as a result I do n't really m ind that t he spec ta -
tor!': can see the fa ce of th e card on th e bott o m of the deck. However, if you place an Ace oth er than the Ac e of Spades at
the bottom of the deck, yo u can otcrt by fan ning the cards in such a w ay t hat you r rig ht hand obscu res the PiPS at the Ace,
making th e entire te n look blank to beg in w ith . •
 First off, It's been a great experience working with Kevin
on this project. E v e n though much of our t trne was spent watch -
ing videos on You Tub e (because of Ke vin , I ' ve seen mor e random
things onlin e th an anyone s hou ld see i n a life ti m e), i t w a s d ef i -
nite ly worth au the laughs .

I Hr s t ru e t Kev il ! dur ing h is vi sit t o L os A nge les i n 2006. We w e r e

able to spen d s o m e t ime together and Dan and I were blown
awa y b y h is techniq ue a nd or tq tnat st yle . Ke v in has th is uniqu e
f low to e vcryth ing hc docs uno can make somcthing as simp lc
and mundane as an Elms le y count l o o k wonderful.

We w e r e e x c ite d wh en h e came to us wi t h the i d e a of publ i shing

h is mat erial, esp ec ially when we fou nd ou t h e w a s go ing to in -
c lud e a few o f our fa vorite items . In part icu lar, t h e Fl or ida Cou nt
wi t h th e PC P re ve a l , Raccoon and RePa inted come to m i nd. I
guess y o u cou ld sa y I'm attracted to the Flor ida Count as i t's d i -
rectly in spi r e d fro m my own v e r si on o f th e r h y t hm co u nt. H o w e v -
or, Kev in r ea ll y s imp li f i e d i t a nd turne d it int o a modern c lassic ;
com bin ed with the P CP re vea l it i s a n abso lute ly stunn ing p iece
of card is try. T he R accoon f lo ur ish , a ltho ugh so sma ll and simp le ,
i~ ;:I~ !'Otriking ;:I Ho uris h I'I~ e v e n t h p. rno s t e laborate ma neu vers .
a u u i:s ulll y a br ief ylirlllJ::>e o l hi s v a s t a rra y o f n o u r i s h i n g co n -
c epts. R epaint ed , a concept bot h beaut iful and mag ical , wil l un -
doubted ly be added to e ver y card man ipu lator 'S repertoire .

Kevm's magic a nd ttcunshes ha ve been In s p iri n g me sinc e tu s

.
first v i d e o s w ere po st ed online back i n 2004 , and I can 't w a it to
s e e what el se he ha s to offer in the future. I hope you ' ve enjoy ed
the m ateri a l h erein and th at i t has insp ired you. It i s a g reat
honor of ou rs to formally introd uce , Ke v in Ho .

Dave B u c k
7 May 2 0 08

57
 REFERENCES

PUNK'O

The premi se to r th e effect is based on Paul Ha rris' As-Set, first published in his book, Sup9r Magic on page 77 .

Th e Flmsley Count first appeared In print as the Gh ost Count ill Th e Four Card Trick by Alex Elmslcy.

The Rhythm Count fin"t appeared in print as the Double O/ram Subtle ry in A Visit WiJP Larry Jennings (1982) by James
Patton and Ron Verg ilio .

I he Ascanio Spread can b e found ill Til e A scanio Spread (1976) by Jon Rac herba umer.

The Stuart Gordon Double Turnover first appeared lr I The Cardwright (1988) by Mike Maxwell.

The M p.xica n Turnover vari ation IS based on the ori ginal, pubusned ill Expert Card Technique (1944) by dean Hugard
and Frederick Braue on page 128.

INVERSE IMPULSE CHANGE

The Miller Change can be fo und in Th e Book of John (19 78) by John Mendoza on page 29. How ever, it was published
DoS th e Miller Change not knowing that it was actually the Vic tor Change . c reated by Edw ard Vic tor.

PEGASUS

The One-Hand Top Palm was first published in Card Manipulations, Nos. 1 and 2 by Jean Hugard .

The Whirl Flour;::;// can be fou nd in Card Finesse 11 ( 1 9 ~2) by Jon Racherbaumer on page 36 .

FLORIOA COUNT

The concept of showi ng two c ard s as four ca n be traced back to Bro . John Ham mo n's Getmni Count, w hic h can be
found m Card College Vol. 3 ( 1998) b y Roberto Giobbi. Ho wever, the proced ure is more closely related to the Rhythm
Count (see referen ce in Punk'd) and was inspired by th e nrJ'/(;ula Count, fou nd In Sleigh tty Magical (2006) uy Dan and
Dave Buck.

5B
CHASER

The Tip-Over Ad dition first appeared In .i.ena a Pack of Cards (1928) by Jack Merlin on page 14.

RACCOON

The init ial mo ve in which the top card is pivoted by the righ t index fing er at a 45 d egree angle was first shown to me by
m y friend William Chung , who uses it in his flourish Five Th ri ve.

COLLECTORS:REDUX

The pri nc iple of usi ng the nail to overcome fr ic tion ste ms famously from Erd nase . And in th e Introduction to Reve lati o ns
(1 984) by Dal Vernon, Persr Diacon is mentions Vernon has "mar ry" ap plications using the concept on page ix.

eomms w as ou cnsneo Oy Bruce Eilion in Phoenix #23 1 (J une 15 , 1951).

VISA SW ITCH

Th is switch 15 b ooed o n a 51c ight from Gregory Wi l50 n'5 effect, Box Sprin g , found in his instru ct ional video, Card Stunt s .

Th e last reveal in the Visa Exchange is based o n a sleight used in Pa uil larri s' effect Do u ble M onte , published in Super
Mag ic (1977) on page 47 .

FULLY LOADED

Daryt 'o Hot Shot Cu t w ee flrct published in For Your Entertainmen t Ple asure b y Stephen M inch on page 73.

CONPIRACY OF FOUR

Derek Dingle's Bottom Slip Cut can be fo und in The Cold Deck (19 76) b y t-rank I nompson. -
The JIIogica l Turno ver can be traced back to M a rlo 's Magazine Volume 1 (19 76) by Ed w ard Marlo under th e chapter,
Dissertation o n K.M. Move , and called Single Card Exchanges , or more descriptively as a " Face up to face down ex~
change", on page 41 .

The Long Distance Spinner, cr eat ed by Au dley Walsh , was published in The Tarbell Course in Magic Vol. 4, on pa ge
127.

BOB CHANGE

The SleevA r.h;:mgA first appeared in The Classic Secrets o f Magic (f"ll'll'p.rhl'lr:k edition. 19 49) b y Bruce Elliott.

REPAINTED

The idea of hiding til e pips o f an ace to mak e a fan appear blank can be traced ba ck to the secion on Card Magic in
Greater Magic (1945) by John Northern Hilliard.

59