The Secret to Performing the

Jesse James Card Trick

Introduction:
The Jesse James card trick is a simple trick to learn. You must tell the following story,
or a reasonable facsimile of this story, prior to handling the cards:

“Jesse James is playing five card stud poker in a saloon with six other players.
Jesse has been winning most of the hands, and he has not lost a single hand that
he has dealt. Therefore, the other players are mad at him and assume Jesse is
cheating, especially when he is dealing the cards.

The next time it is Jesse’s turn to deal, the other players tell him they figure he is
cheating and that he is going to deal this hand with a new deck of cards.”

Prerequisites:

A new deck of playing cards or an

existing deck of cards rearranged in
the order of a new deck of cards, as
seen to the right.

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 You must know:

 How to cut a deck of cards:

Remove any number of cards from the top of the deck and place them at
the bottom of the deck.

 That five card stud requires you to deal cards to each player in turn.

Deal the first one down, and after each player has one, continue with the
next round, placing the card face up. Then a round of betting occurs, the
next round of cards is dealt face up, and so on for a total of five cards.
Normally the last four cards are dealt face up, but to show the trick,
continue to deal the cards face down with no betting delays while telling the
story.

 How cards are dealt:

Start dealing to the player on your left and proceed clockwise around the
table until everyone has a card, and then repeat this procedure four more
times.

How to Do the Jesse James Card Trick:

A. Opening moves

1. Tell the story from the

Introduction.

2. Pull out a new deck of

playing cards or a deck
arranged in the order
shown in the Prerequisites.

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 3.

Remove the Jokers from the

deck. (There should be two
at the end of a new deck of
cards.)

B. Preparing the deck

1. Tell the audience that the other players produce a new deck of cards and
that they further tell Jesse that they are going to cut the deck and he will
deal the cards without shuffling them.

2. Explain that you are

playing for all the other
supposed players.
Then tell your
audience that the first
player agrees to make
a cut, and then you
cut the deck for the
first player.

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 3. Repeat step 2 for the second, third, and fourth players.

4. Announce that the fifth player agrees to make a cut, but look at the bottom
card on the cut when you make the cut (the card lifted off the deck).

5. Follow one of the two options in the table below:

If the card at the bottom of the cut is: Then

an ace, two, three, four, five, six, Announce that the sixth player has decided the
seven, eight, or nine cards have been cut enough.

a ten, jack, queen, or king Announce that the sixth player agrees to take a
little cut and only cut five or six cards.

6. Report that the last player to cut the deck (either the fifth or sixth player,
depending on the result of step 5) hands the deck of cards to Jesse.

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C. Dealing the cards

1. Now you are acting as

Jesse. Deal one card to
each of the seven players,
starting with the player to
your left. (Six players
plus Jesse)

Do NOT deal more

than one card to each
player on this first
round.

2. Deal a second card to each player, but not to Jesse.

3. Now, deal a second card

to Jesse off the bottom of
the deck.

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 4. Deal a third card to every player, including Jesse.

5. Deal a fourth card to every player except Jesse.

6. Now, deal a fourth card to Jesse, off the bottom of the deck again.

7. Deal a fifth card to every player, including Jesse. At this point, each player
should have five cards.

8. Set the deck of cards on the table and proceed to the instructions for the big
finale.

D. The Big Finale

1. Tell your audience that the other players know Jesse cheated somehow, so they
decide to compare hands.

2. Turn over the first player’s

hand to reveal a full house
(three of a kind and two of
a kind).

3. Repeat step 2 for players two through six, revealing that they all also have full houses.

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4. Announce that at this point the
other players assume Jesse has
dealt himself a hand that will
beat a full house. Simulate the
motion of someone pulling a gun
from a holster and announce
that the player’s draw their guns
on Jesse and tell him not to
touch his hand.

5. State that the players order Jesse to deal the top five cards off the remaining deck and
that those five cards will determine who wins the game, not the hand that Jesse dealt
to himself.

6. Deal the top five cards off the

remaining deck to reveal a straight
flush for Jesse, which beats all of
their full houses.

7. Turn over Jesse’s original hand to reveal that it would not have beaten the full house
that was dealt to all the other players.

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