Moving Cards

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Moving Cards

By Sean Taylor

The Black and White Books – Vol. 1

Published by Taylor’s Magic

www.taylorsmagic.com.au

Feb 2013

© 2013 by Taylor’s Magic All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,or otherwise, without prior written permission of Taylor’s Magic. Punishments can include but are not limited to legal action, public shaming or removal ofgenitals.


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ContentsIntroduction …………………………………………………………5

Chapter 1 Move a Card – An Overview…………………..9

Chapter 2 The 8 Key Variations

2.1 The Telephone Number…………..11

2.2 The Easy Code……………………15

2.3 The Photographic Memory………..17

Chapter 3 The Pumping…………………………………21

Chapter 4 Afterthoughts…………………………………27

Chapter 5 The Stack Ideas……………………………….31

Chapter 6 Move 2 Cards…………………………………37

Chapter 7 Colossal Card Memory………………………..47

Chapter 8 Move a Card – The Moves…………………....51


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Introduction

In the early 1930’s, a magician simply called ‘Moe’ marketed a little manuscript called Moe’s Move a Card. It sold forthe princely sum of $1. Thereby began a new plot in card magic. Over 80 years later, there is still a fascination notonly with the plot, but also with Moe himself.

Moe Seidenstein was from Pittsburgh and was, by all accounts, an enigma; he turned up periodically at conventionsfrom 1929 until 1934 and quite literally stunned magicians over and over with a form of card magic, which appearedto have no method. He would hang around in the hotel lobby, literally showing his effects to anyone who wouldstop and watch. The effects were based on subterfuge and educated guess work or what we now call ‘estimation’ butthe magicians of the day were largely clueless. In the same way that we watch Lennart Green and Juan Tamariz, withthat marvelous childlike feeling of being totally nailed, so magicians of the 1930s felt like beginners again. Havinghad no exposure to the work of Moe, I too found myself in that same situation, some 50 years later.


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Moe won awards for his tricks, published a small booklet and a couple of other single effect manuscripts, beforelargely vanishing from organised magic in 1934. He went on to live in New York throughout the war and, as far asanyone knew, on into at least the mid 50s. He spookily returned to the magic scene more than 60 years later. TheMoe legend had gone unchanged and untouched by magicians until, in 1997, Bill Kalusch made a breakthrough. He

discovered that not only was Moe alive and well, he was still doing tricks for his friends and family (and remarkablystill working for a living), despite being 88 years of age.

An article was published in the Linking Ring in 2001 where Moe, then 92, eloquently recounts his life story, rightsthe wrongs, tells the true stories of the various manuscripts and booklets written about him and proves that truth isoften stranger than fiction. You can read all about Moe and his life at www.moesmagic.com

In 1986 William P. Miesel, with the help of Jeff Busby published a 55-page manuscript titled Moe and His Miracles with Cards. Miesel described Moe’s material, republished earlier methods and variations and, with the help of somenotable Chicago personalities including Sid Lorraine and Jay Marshall, recreated the effects as he believed they would have been seen back in the 30s. The book is interesting in that the methods were the subject of conjectureand the authors knew they might not have been exactly the ones used by Moe. You can read Moe’s comments on

http://www.moesmagic.com/http://www.moesmagic.com/http://www.moesmagic.com/


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the website. He was sorry that some of the work was copied from illicit manuscripts but, at the same time, pleased with the comments lauded on him by the book.

This Busby manuscript was limited to 500 copies and is pretty hard to find these days. If you see one, I’d suggestyou snap it up since, despite its dubious parentage, it is a terrific way to spend a rainy afternoon as I’m doing right

now as I write this.In the late 80’s I attended a lecture at the Ipswich Magical Society by my good friend Mike Austin. The committeehad each witnessed Mike’s prowess with the miracles of Moe and asked him to present a segment of this material.

Without any form of introduction, Mike began by performing a selection of Moe’s effects to what amounted tostunned silence. So impossible were these effects, we all began to suspect he was getting help from the ‘volunteers.’ At the conclusion of the opening salvo, Mike removed from his briefcase the Miesel manuscript, which we were tolearn contained explanations for these remarkable feats. Mike went on to demonstrate more of the effects andfollowed with a rudimentary explanation of the key methods involved.

I learnt the ‘Move a Card’ effect from my hazy memory of what had happened that evening and I continued to foolmagicians with it for several years. It wasn’t until some years later when I was able to secure the manuscript that Irealised I’d learnt something different from the method published. Thanks to the re-appearance of Moe, I nowknow that he used not one but many methods himself and published only the version that was 100% bullet proof. The original ad claimed the trick could be done by a 12 year old. Since many people under 30 seem to have aproblem adding numbers quickly in their head, this might not be the case these days!

The methods utilised to accomplish the Move a Card effect are incredibly difficult to explain in print. Vernon’s“Trick that can’t be explained” was, in a sense, a similar effect to this and got its name for a reason. I’ve tried tobreak the explanations of the actual Move a Card variants into a kind of chronological development from my own

perspective and this will hopefully give you some idea about my thought process too.

What follows in these pages are some of the many ideas I’ve used to accomplish this plot over the past 25+ years. Itruly don’t know how many of these are 100% original since people have played with the plot for over 80 years and Idare say, for the reasons stated above, much of their work would have remained unpublished. I’ve read a lot of workon it, swapped a lot of work on it and sessioned a lot of work on it in this time. I know that many others have usedit to fool magicians and it’s very likely some of the work here has been independently created. Hand on heart, I havedeveloped everything here myself unless otherwise credited. If you see what you believe is your work here, take adeep breath and call me.


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I’d like to thank my band of proof readers and sub editors who include Nick Morton, Richard Paddon, my sonPatrick Taylor and my wife Diana. Part of the inspiration for producing this book came from a session I had withmy good friend Vincent Hedan. His comments (and the look on his face when I showed him the effect) convincedme that others might enjoy playing with it too.

Sean Taylor


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Chapter 1Move a Card – An Overview

A shuffled pack is spread widely on the table. The magician glances across the spread, claiming to memorise theentire order. A spectator is asked to move a card from one position to another, remembering where the card camefrom and straightening the cards so it cannot be seen which ones have moved. The magician takes a second look at

the spread and then turns around. The spectator is asked to replace the card in its original position. The magicianturns back around and looks across the spread removing the exact selection.

Without describing the exact modus operandi, I can tell you that the Moe and Miesel published method involvedmemorising a number of key cards across the spread. This memory work narrows the search. A little calculation ofcard values within a group allows you to pinpoint the exact card. You can find the Miesel booklet to fill in the gaps.

Subsequent versions of the effect have largely utilized the basic multiple key card method and some of my versionsare no exception. Harry Lorayne published his take in Reputation Makers in 1971. Lorayne commented that hismemory ability had allowed him to do the effect largely on the fly but his published method involved memorising


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the 4 top cards, performing multiple Faro shuffles and then memorising further cards to supplement those youalready knew and then pumping from a group of cards. Mathematics replaced by Faros doesn’t sound easier to mebut I’m sure some card guys found it useful!

The first decision you need to make with this effect is whether it suits your style as it stands. If you consider the

basic premise, it is essentially a demonstration of remarkable ‘photographic’ memory skills rather than a magicaltrick. The public gets to see so many remarkable things on TV and You-Tube that a guy memorising a pack of cardsmay be completely plausible to them. This has never bothered me and since I have a number of mental andmemory-based effects, this one fits in well with my style. I’ve also built in speed, a bit of presentation and a gag ortwo in order to make it play.

My thinking on the original effect is in the form of 3 variations. Whilst each adds some variation to the procedure, itis fair to say that they also include some compromise on the original demonstration. I firmly believe that in jazzeffects of this kind you often need to vary methods to suit your own abilities. Some people memorise well on the fly,others need to rely on a pre-memorised system. Some people feel the need to perform quickly so pre-preparation

suits their style; others are more engaging as performers and can more easily carry a longer and more cumbersomeset-up before the pay-off. Some people can speak and think or count at the same time; others need to break theseactivities up. Amid all of this, you should find something that works for you.

In the tips and afterthoughts, I will cover some of the extra skills and abilities you can add to the basic methods tosupplement the mechanical learning of the effect. There is no doubt that living and breathing this effect will give youextra latitude and help you to make your own luck.


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Chapter 2

The 8 Key Variations2.1 The Telephone Number

What the audience sees

A shuffled pack is ribbon spread across the table, the magician claims to be able to memorise the order of the pack,so much so that he can work out if a card is out of place. He looks across the spread for a few seconds claiming to

have remembered most of the cards. He asks the spectator to remove a card from the spread and to move itsomewhere else, adjusting the cards so it’s not obvious where they have been moved. Turning back around themagician looks across the pack and removes the selected card.

Looking carefully at the original Moe effect, the only area of inconsistency is the second movement. If you couldreally memorise a full pack in order, the card would only need to be moved once to be out of place and one assumesthat you would be able to simply find the card out of place and remove it.

When I tried to piece the effect back together from Mike’s original demonstration, I was unaware of the calculationand so this was my first attempt at performing the effect. I began by memorising the cards that lay at the 10th and


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20th position from each end of the spread. I would then get a general idea of what cards lay around them in thespread and would look for patterns of 3 or 4 like coloured cards. If more than 9 cards lay between my 2 key cards I would know that one of these was the card. I would then look at the pattern to see if I recognised anything differentand, at worst, I’d pump from those 10 cards. Over time, I got pretty good at this but it was by no means veryreliable. As a late night demonstration for other magicians it would fly, but only in that context.

What I needed to do was to work out a way of remembering more key cards quickly. I decided that trying toremember the card at every fifth position was going to make the whole process easier. It would mean remembering8 cards but the result allows me, as you’ll see, to pump from just 5 cards.

Telephone numbers in Australia, as in much of the world, have 8 digits. We generally write and indeed say them in 2groups of 4. If we begin with an easy number like this 9845 2824, you’ll see how easy this is to recall. Say thenumber a couple of times to yourself then look away and say it over and again. A little practice will make this an easyprocess.

As you introduce this effect, I find its better not to describe precisely what will happen. Talk about photographicmemory, card counting, instant recall or something around the subject but don’t describe exactly what you’ll do todemonstrate these phenomena. This will not afford the spectator the opportunity to try and trip you up by movingthe card one space.

Have the pack shuffled and ribbon spread it widely on the table. Begin on the left side of the pack. Count five cardsin and that will be your first card then remember the 10th and 15th and 20th cards. These will be your first 4. Youneed only remember the values and not suits. Now begin at the right end of the spread and, counting from the lastcard backwards, do the same, remember the 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th cards. You have 8 digits to remember as in thephone number above. It goes without saying that you should not telegraph the fact that you are counting.

Between each of your key cards, there are 4 cards and, in the centre, is a group of 12.

As you ask the spectator to assist, you should gesture with your hands. “I’d like you to remove a card from thespread, take a look at it for a few seconds to be absolutely sure you will remember it and then replace it somewhereelse.” Mime choosing a card from one end of the pack and replacing it towards the other end. This subconsciousinstruction will re-enforce that you want them to move it some way from the selection point and not just 2 or 3cards along from where it was. Explain, with your back still turned that you’d like them to straighten the card so thatit’s not obvious where the card came from.


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You can now allude to the fact that you will try to work out which card they have moved using your memory alone.Begin counting from the left and making sure that your key cards are still in position. Once you get used to theseblocks of 5, you can do it almost visually. You are looking for a block which has either 5 or 3 indifferent cardsbetween the 2 key cards. If you find a block with 3 cards, you can explain that you are pretty confident that a card ismissing from that area of the pack. If you find a block with 5, you can state that a card was moved from the otherend of the pack “into this area.” I tend to gesture and use generalisations at this point.

Once you find a block with 5 cards between the 2 keys, you simply pump to discover which of the cards is theselection. We cover the pumping on in chapter 3.


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The 8 Key Variations

2.2 The Easy Code

Over the many years I’ve shared my work on this effect, I’ve used some simple tricks and cheats to help explain tofriends how to do it. In doing this, I’ve realised that it may be easier for some to have a pre-set series of key cards to

avoid the memory work. If you are keen to give the effect a try but believe you may have trouble remembering 8keys then this may be an option for you.

Method

Remove the 5s and the 10s from the pack. 8 cards in total. Ribbon spread the remaining cards and, working fromthe left, place any 5 in the 5 th position from the left, a 10 in the 10th position, a 5 in the 15th position and any 10 inthe 20th position. Now do the same from the right side of the pack. Place a 5 in the 5th position from the end and soon. You now have 8 key cards that require no memory work. You can easily remember the positions since they arein numerical order. The fact you have no memory work on these sections of 20 cards give you the added flexibility

of adding 1 or 2 easily memorised cards in the central section. You now have exactly the same situation as in version 1. The upside of this version is that, it’s a quickly set effectand requires very little in the way of memory work. The downside is that the pack cannot be shuffled. You could usea false cut or full deck false shuffle casually at the outset to give the impression that the pack is mixed.

Since many of your cards are in preset positions, you can add some other cards in their appropriate numericalpositions. For instance the 3s could be placed in the 13 th and 23rd positions from each end. This will go unnoticed. This increases the number of key cards and, in turn, increases the chance that the spectator will select one of the keycards.


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Performance

The performance of this version is identical to version 1. You will find that counting the blocks of 4 cards betweenthe keys is faster since you can easily glance at the 5s and 10s and they become almost ‘invisible’ in that youeffectively ignore them. You see a block of 4 indifferent cards between the 5 and 10 cards and, much like the spotson a die, you see a block of 4 cards without the need to count them.

When you spot a group of 3 indifferent cards, you can easily point to that area and to patter that the card was movedfrom that position. You are pointing roughly to a group of 3 cards. You will know that the chosen card will be nearthe opposite end of the spread. Locating the group of 5 quickly is very easy. You now need to merely pump fromthat group to ascertain the selection, just as in version 1.

If one of the key cards is chosen, you will soon see that it is out of position. You will find that you can countbetween the keys at an astonishing speed, you count almost in 5s. Once you discover one of the keys is missing, you

will know if it is a 5 or a 10. All you need to do now is to find a 5 or a 10 which is out of position. This will happenat least 8 times in 40 (slightly more since people almost never choose from the last few cards). In other words inmore than a fifth of the performances, no pumping will be necessary.


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The 8 Key Variations

2.3 The Photographic Memory I never stop thinking about these variations and about ways I can make them easier or more useful. For severalyears, I knew there would be a way to instantly stack the key cards during the effect. In other words, you’d have apre-memorised group of key cards and you’d stack them into the appropriate positions in the pack.

Harry Lorayne’s version of this effect does exactly this. He begins with 4 like cards (they could be culled or added via a palm) on the top of the pack and then positions them equally via the use of Faro shuffles. Whilst I amconfident I could do 2 Faros under fire, it’s not terribly practical for everyone and it only solves a part of theproblem. It requires the spectator to move a card from elsewhere in the pack into this 16 card block. In other words,it’s a fair bit of work, yet still requires some restrictions on the spectator in performance. Despite Lorayne publishingthis version, he does make the point that in performance, his memory enables him to do a lot more besides thisbasic stacking of 4 keys. These extraordinary memory skills were also shared by Moe who admitted that he used a lotof extra memory work in addition to his basic published methods.

In seeking to solve this dilemma, I began with sleight of hand; culls, shuffles and side steals. I played with variants of

other tricks I knew where cards could be culled into specific positions. Unfortunately, none of these allowed formore than a handful of cards to be re-positioned. None allowed for 6 or 8 cards to be easily placed equidistantly andexactly.

The path to the solution lay ironically in an effect I’ve also been performing regularly for over 25 years. The effectcomes from a booklet called ‘Aces’ by Walt Maddison. I published a version called “Handful of Aces” in my first setof Australian notes. The pack is cut several times and dropped in piles onto the table and, in this action, the 4 acesare stacked into 4 key positions. The exact handling only allows for 4 cards but it set me thinking about thisapproach. Initially I had hoped that cutting piles from the top would be sufficient; it isn’t.


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You begin by handing the spectator the pack and have them shuffle it. As you take the pack back, explain that you will attempt to memorise the pack. Since it would be very hard to do this quickly, you will look for patterns andsmall groups of cards that you can easily remember. You will appear to grab random handfuls of cards from thepack, apparently memorising the cards as you do so. After every couple of handfuls, you will turn the cards towardsthe spectators to show them what you are remembering. What you are actually doing is stacking the key cards inevery 5th position in the pack.

Take back the shuffled pack and fan them towards yourself. You are going to locate the 5s and 10s as in the EasyCode version and you will stack them at every 5 th position from the face of the pack, in other words they will beequally spread across the bottom 40 cards. You will not concern yourself about the order of the 5s and 10s; merelythat they are at every 5th position. (We will deal with the top 12 in a minute).

Begin at the face of the pack. Spot a 5 or 10 and remove it, along with the 4 indifferent cards to the right of it(assuming you are right handed – lefties reverse this instruction). If the first 5 or 10 spot is within the first 5 cards atthe face, leave it for now and move on and find the next 5 or 10 spot, you will fix that first block in a moment. You

have to ensure that there are no more 5s or 10s in the blocks you remove. You will drop 8 of these blocks of 5 cardsface down on the table forming a pile of 40 cards. Each block of 5 has a key card (5 or 10) on top and 4 indifferentcards beneath. As you do this, if there are any obvious patterns in the block you remove, you can turn them aroundand point them out to the spectators. (You are, in a sense describing how you are purporting to perform the effect). You don’t have to show all of the cards; you simply point out obvious links and patterns. This entire sequence takesaround 60 – 90 seconds and you should talk constantly, as if to help yourself to remember. The appearance you giveis almost that of a savant.

Your dialogue will sound something like this. “I’ll try to remember as much about the cards as I can. I’m looking forpatterns in the cards, little blocks that I can easily remember, there’s a pair of red 7s with blacks on either side,

there’s a block of 3 pictures together and here’s 2 queens and 2 aces together, that should be easy. Here’s 4 blacks ina run and there’s a bunch of diamonds together.” I don’t have to remember every card; I’m just looking for patterns. Yes! There’s a good poker hand if ever I saw one.”

As you say this, you can show some cards, however much of this is pure bluff. You are pretending to name whatyou see as you feverishly go through the pack but in fact you are simply locating the keys. As you turn the groups ofcards to show them, close the groups up a little to hide exactly how many cards you take each time and miscall thenumbers so it’s not obvious that you remove 5 cards each time. You can also half turn the packs so that thespectators believe you are trying to show them but simply went to fast. This enhances the illusion that the patterns


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you describe are real. Remember, this is a fast paced segment and you are quickly working through the cards andsimply dropping them in a messy heap on the table.

Once you get down to 15 – 20 cards, you might need to clean up the last few 5s and 10s if they are near the face. You can cull a couple of extra cards behind the spread and add them to the right of the key card to make groups of

5. Alternatively, simply blatantly move cards with the words “and I might put that one with these cards and then it will be easy to remember.” Since you make the rules in the effect, and you are apparently demonstrating a giantmemory, nothing is off-limits.

Once you have 40 cards on the table, you’ll be left with 12 cards in your hand. Spread them in a fan and count fromthe right. Remember the 5th card from the right; this is your 9 th key card and your only piece of memory work!Count the cards to the left i.e. On top of it, to make sure that there are 7 cards and then drop this pile of 12 onto thecards on the table. If there are more or less than 7 cards in this top stock, you will need to work out where youmessed up. Spread the cards widely on the table and quickly run over them from the right of the spread and find thepoint where the key cards have more or less than 4 cards in between. I’ve usually cleaned this up by adding a card

from the top of the pack if there are only 3, or removing one if there is are 5. This is done under the pretense ofshowing the spectator what to do in a moment. That works fine. The alternative is simply to remember where theodd group of cards is. That works too. The more you work at this, the less likely you are to make a mistake.

Once you are confident the cards are where they need to be, spread the cards widely on the table. You can nowpretend to check on where the groups are in the spread and, as you look across the spread, just recheck the positionsof the keys.

You are now set to perform the effect as in versions 1 and 2. Turn your back and have a spectator move a card fromone spot another. Turn around and simply work from the right. Count the indifferent cards between the key cardsuntil you find a group of 5. You are now ready to pump from this group to find the selection.


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Chapter 3 The Pumping To pump from five cards is relatively easy. In fact, 5 is probably the optimum number and that was one of myreasons for selecting it. Essentially you are going to eliminate 4 cards down to a single card. The amount you have topump will vary each time you perform this effect and, you should remember that most of the time, it will be quick,simple and, to the observer, invisible.

First; some reassurance. The important thing to remember is that whilst you will be only pumping from 5 cards, thespectator is completely unaware of that fact. They selected one card out of 52. They will see you looking at the fullpack of 52 cards. To simply guess a card from a full pack would take a lot more steps and would be glaringlyobvious. The process in this case is quick and passes almost unnoticed. In fact, this minor narrowing down is prettyconsistent with the ability you are purporting to demonstrate. Imagining you had no idea about pumping; the onlyoption open was to ask one card at a time, if a particular card was the selection. The worst case would be that thespectator said “no” 4 times and then you named the card. You would have to be terribly unlucky for this to be thecase! What’s more it would still look pretty amazing.


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The good news is that the pumping process will always look better than that. Since you are making statementsinstead of asking questions, you’ll seem right, even when you aren’t. You will work on diminishing possibilities. Inother words, you’ll mentally divide the cards into groups and eliminate them in chunks as efficiently as possible.

If you consider all of the possibilities from 5 cards, and break them in subsets which divide into 2, you can eliminate

them very easily. The group of 5 cards can be divided into red and black, odd and even, high and low, pictures andspot cards. The smaller groups can be divided into hearts and diamonds or clubs and spades. They can also be highor low and odd or even. Let’s imagine we began with red or black. There are only 3 possibilities. The cards can be allone colour, 4 of one colour and 1 of the other, or 3 of one colour and 2 of the other.

In the most common scenario (2 out of 3 times) there is going to be more of one colour than the other so you willgenerally begin with that.

Step 1 – The ColourLet’s assume there are 3 or 4 reds and therefore 2 or 1 black. “ You didn’t choose a red card did you?” If they sayyes, you’ll know it’s red and you’ll say. “I thought so.” If they say no, you’ll say, “I thought not, most peoplechoose red first but I picked you for the kind of person who would go for a black.”

If you ask this question for the colour with the highest number of cards, it will allow you to eliminate a colour without the need to appear to get anything wrong. The outcome of this question will tell you exactly what colour was chosen and you will have between 1 and 4 cards to choose from.

If there is only 1 card of the chosen colour, you can remove it straight away and show it as the selection.

*(Naturally, if there were 5 of the one colour between the keys, this step is eliminated).

Step 2 – The SuitContinuing from the above scenario, you will now have between 2 and 4 cards of one colour to pump from. They will generally be from 2 suits. From the above statement, I will not pause; I simply name the suit with the mostcards. “….and I think it was a heart.” This is spoken as a statement and not a question. If the spectator confirms,


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I move straight to the value, if not, I immediately say. “Sorry, I meant a diamond.” I don’t even pause or look up;in my mind, it’s a legitimate mistake and I carry right on.

*If they are all from the same suit, you will skip this stage and go for the value.

*If there is only one card from the chosen suit, you simply name it as the selection.

Step 3 – The Value You could still have 2 or 3 cards of one suit to pump from. You will again go with the majority. There could bemore spot cards or more pictures. There could be more odd cards than even. Mentally you work out how to dividethe remaining cards in 2 groups. You deliver this as a statement just as above.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve got it. The value of the card, is it an odd number?”

You may have narrowed down to 2 now, you could go high or low, depending on the values. In this situation, if theyare close, such as a 5 and 7 of hearts, I’ll generally guess. And as I do it, since the cards are close together in thespread, I’ll simply take them both out and claim that I knew it was one or the other.

Other pathways

What I’ve described above is probably the most common path magicians take to eliminate but often it’s better to go with something other than colour as the first step. Look at the 5 cards carefully and consider whether there is amore efficient way to eliminate. You may jump right into naming the suit if there are 4 hearts for example. It gives

you a ‘hit.’I will almost always look to mentally divide the cards into a group of 3 and a group of 2. There may be 3 picturecards and just 2 spots, 3 odd cards and 2 evens. Let’s work through a few examples.

Imagine you see these five cards.

4 of hearts, 2 of diamonds, Jack of spades, 10 of hearts, 5 of clubs.

Assuming the spectator had chosen the Jack of spades.


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M: You didn’t choose a red card did you?

S: No

M: I didn’t think so, I had a feeling you’d go for black and I think it’s a spade right?

S: Yes

M: You moved it from over here to here; it’s the Jack of spades.

Assuming the spectator had chosen the 2 of diamonds.


S: YesM: I thought so, and it’s a heart.

S: No

M: No, sorry, you moved it from this side, to here and it’s the 2 of diamonds.

Assuming they chose the 10 of hearts.


S: Yes

M: I thought so, and it’s a heart.

S: Yes

M: It wasn’t the four of hearts?

S: No


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M: No, it was the 10 of hearts.

In this example, there are 2 cards to choose from. You simply take a guess and will be either right or wrong. In amagic sense, this feels wrong but think of what you are trying to show, how little is said considering we are talking

about an entire shuffled pack. It’s actually 3 steps but it feels like only 1 or 2.


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What if another card of the same value is next to your key card; won’t that get confusing?

Actually; no. The basic method of this effect is only the beginning. You should work hard to notice other quirks andpatterns that exist in the spread. We’ll look at this shortly.

What if someone chooses one of the cards in the centre block?

If a card is removed from the centre block and is placed into another section, you still have a block of 5 cards from which to pump as in the regular method. Counting 11 cards in the centre will tell you that this is where the cardcame from.

What if they place a selected card into the centre block?

This is fractionally more difficult, but not much. If you get the demonstration right at the beginning, it is veryunlikely to occur but it might. In all the years, I have performed this, it has rarely occurred. After a while, you beginto be able to add extra information to your 8 digit key. I tended to remember a single or double key card fromsomewhere in the centre block. If an ace or king existed there, it’s a good one to use. Remembering the 26th and 27th cards – i.e. The 2 cards right in the centre side by side is another way to do this – if you remember them as acombined value – say 15, it’s a peculiar number after your phone number and therefore it helps it to stick.

If, despite all your efforts, you do have a card replaced into this block and you haven’t remembered a key, you willneed to eliminate 12 cards to identify it. You can state right away that they have put the card close to the centre andthat will make my job a little harder... This is a hit, and the process has not started yet. Depending on thecombination of cards in the centre section, the elimination may or may not be as easy as from 5 cards. I’d jump intothe pumping sequence and work from there. It almost always works out easier than you think. If all else fails, getthem to tell you the card, remove it and place it back where you believe it came from – since there are only 3 cardsin that section, you can only be a maximum of 2 cards out (an effect in itself) and ask a 2nd person to move a card.Getting a hit the second time negates any slip from the first time. Rather like the trapeze artist who has 2 attempts atthe impossible stunt, it can actually add to the drama.


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What if all this still sounds a little scary?

I’d implore you to try it with your immediate family. Go for the Easy Code version first and get used to thepumping. Remember 2 key cards in the centre so you don’t have to worry about that block.

To get used to the pumping, grab out bunches of 5 cards from a face down pack and work out how you would

begin the pumping sequence and then give it a try. I’m confident you will find it easier than you expect. Whilst you are learning the pumping in performance, begin to practice the 8 digit code by yourself until you areconfident with that. Once you get used to that part, begin to put the 2 elements together and allow the pack to beshuffled.

You remember more than you think.

The more you practice and perform this effect, the more confident you will get with your memory. Moe learnt toperform the trick working in a warehouse that had hundreds of stock cards. He began memorising the details on the

cards including, not only stock figures, but also who bought what, how many, and when.

Try to notice patterns and quirks in the arrangement. The trick is not to try and memorise them but merely to noticethem and move on. Your memory will retain much more than you think. Here are some examples.

Groups of similar cards such as 4 or 5 heart spot cards

Runs of like colours

4 picture cards together

A pair or trio of aces

A run of consecutive numbers 3, 4, 5.

These will stick in your mind without the need to physically commit them to memory.

If a card with the same value as the key card sits alongside your key, simply remember that too as an exception. It’squite easy to add one or two of these exceptions to your 8 digit “phone number.”


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Chapter 5 The Stack Ideas

If you are content to perform Move a Card without the pack being fully shuffled by the spectator at the outset, thenyour options are many. Essentially any memorised stack will allow you to perform the effect since you need onlylook for a card which is out of stack sequence. There are two major downsides of performing with a stack. Firstly,you need to not only know the stack but you should also be very familiar with it. The familiarity will be key, sincethe second issue is that you have to look at potentially a large part of the pack, one card at a time to see which card

is out of position. It is not as easy to quickly spot the card. (Another upside is you will know the exact card whetheryou find the card itself out of sequence, or if you find the spot it’s missing from).

The following effect variation can be performed with any known stack. It can add extra dimensions to the effectand, following it, I give you a couple of methods which not only simplify the handling but also speed up therevelation considerably.


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Variation 1 - Si Stebbins Stack

Move a Card, Remove a Card What the audience sees

The magician removes a pack of cards which he shuffles and cuts several times. He spreads them widely on the tableand claims he will memorise the cards in order. The cards are spread and the magician scans his eyes across thespread, apparently memorising the cards.

The cards are turned over and re-spread face down. The magician requests a spectator to choose a card fromanywhere in the pack and to remember it and move it to another position. He asks the spectator to straighten thecards so he can’t see where the cards were moved. As an afterthought, the magician turns to talk to a secondspectator.

“I might get you to make things a little more interesting, and at the same time a little more tricky for me. Will you please remove a card from anywhere and place it in your pocket. Again, straighten the cards so Ican’t see where you removed the card from.”

He turns around and states that he couldn’t possibly know, other than by memory, where the cards were movedfrom or indeed where a single card was moved to. The cards are re-spread, again face up, and the magician reachesinto the spread and removes one card. Sure enough, this is the card which was moved. He places it immediately backto its correct position. Turning to the 2nd spectator, he names the missing card which the spectator removes fromhis pocket.

Set Up

The Si Stebbins stack is an underused resource. Many magicians claim that the increasing and repetitive numbersequence and the red/black sequence are easily spotted. I’ve used Stebbins for 30+ years and, to my knowledge,nobody ever spotted it. I have friends who use it and they report the same. The red/black sequence, as you’ll see is areally useful characteristic for this particular effect. If it bothers any of you that much that you won’t use it thenthere are alternatives. Docc Hilford, Richard Osterlind and several others have published “improvements” toStebbins which makes the sequence a little less obvious. The fact I know about these (and own them) should beenough to convince you that they are unnecessary but, if you feel the need, go for it!


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Briefly, to place your pack in the Si Stebbins stack, the cards will be in CHaSeD order – Clubs, Hearts, Spades,Diamonds and each card will increase by a value of 3 from the previous card. The stack is cyclic so the last card inthe pack cycles back to the first which means that the cards can be cut and the cut completed many times over. Theycan also be mixed by means of the Charlier shuffle (or indeed any false cut or shuffle) without the order beingdestroyed. This is explained in the moves section at the end of this book.

The first few cards are AC, 4H, 7S, 10D, KC, 3H, 6S, 9D and so on. The last card will be the Jack of Diamonds. Adding 3 to the Jack (11) gets you back to 1 and following Diamonds is Clubs. The stack has come full circle.

If this is your first experience of Stebbins, a Google search will bring up plenty of resources (unfortunately!).

Performance

Remove the cards from the box and explain that you will attempt to memorise the order of the pack. As you aresaying this, false cut or shuffle cards and perform a couple of genuine single cuts. Put the cards on the table andhave the spectator cut the pack and complete the cut.

Explain that you will memorise the order of the cards. (In the Move 2 Cards chapter you will find a goodpresentational premise for this, together with patter. This presentation will work equally well here). Spread the cards widely on the table. Pretend to be concentrating intensely on the cards. I’ll often mumble some nonsense to myselfas if partially revealing my memory system.

“Two, ten, black cat, red ball, thirty three, 2001, spade, shovel boat afloat, black, black, red head.”

When you reach the end of the spread, turn the pack face down and spread the pack wide on the table but facedown. Turn to a spectator and explain what you want them to do.

“Once I’ve turned away, remove a card from anywhere in the pack, remember the card and move it to

another spot. Make sure you concentrate on straightening the cards so I can’t tell where you moved thecard from.”

Turn your back as they are doing this and have someone tell you once it is complete. Turning to a 2nd spectator, yourequest that they remove a card.

“I might make this a little more interesting. Would you remove a card from anywhere in the spread and place it in your pocket.”


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Have a spectator square the pack and turn back around. Re-spread the cards face-up. As you look across the spread,you will observe 3 pairs of like coloured cards. In other words, the red-black sequence will be broken in 3 places. Take a look at those 3 pairs. In one of the 3, you will find a card out of place. In other words, an extra card, whichdoes not belong in the sequence. Remove this card and place it back into the correct spot in the spread (it will gobetween the 2 cards in one of the other pairs). This will leave you with one odd pair of cards of a single colour. The

card missing from between these 2 cards is the one in the 2 nd spectator’s pocket. This is a lot easier to do than itsounds here. Try it a couple of times and you’ll agree. If you are at all concerned at the pack laying in full view, youcan fan the cards between your hands. Alternatively you can lessen the time that the cards are in view. Simply forgothe replacement of the moved card, remove it from the spread, show it, and scoop the pack up. At this point you will already know the missing card so you can go on to name that card.


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Variation 2 - The Invisible Stack This is an idea I’ve used in 2 or 3 of my effects over the years and it has served me very well. (If my Utility Pack eversees the light of day, the basis of this idea is used to very good effect there). The Invisible Pack, or Ultra MentalPack as it was known before Don Alan popularised the presentation, is a very common magician’s effect. Most of us

have used it at one time or another and I’m a self-confessed Invisible Pack junkie. In the Invisible Pack, the cardsare paired as opposite suits Hearts with Spades and Diamonds with Clubs and the pairs of cards add up to 13. Ituses up the full Pack and creates a system to link the cards which you need to perform the effect. I took that basicpairing system (one I already knew very well) and added it to other tricks. The Utility Pack uses it in double facedcards, my take on the Menetekel Pack (or indeed the Multi-Effect Pack) uses it too and it allows for an advantage forme over the traditional versions of those effects. (That’s a discussion for another book……….. or 2). The ‘13’becomes instinctive very quickly and you stop doing the mathematics as you know immediately which card you needto make the pair. I see a 9 of spades and think of a 4 of hearts immediately. This approach also offers an advantageover Si Stebbins (although forgoing another in which to do so) and, as you’ll see, it can offer advantages over a

traditional memorised stack too. To set up, pair the cards according to the invisible pack pairings so that the red and blacks are in a common patternred, black, red, black, red, black as described above and then place them back into a full pack in any order you like. Aside from the red-black pattern, which is only obvious for anyone really staring at the pack, there is otherwise nopattern. The busy nature of the card designs, plus the intermittent picture cards, make the red-black pattern almostinvisible. The kings are paired heart with spade and diamond with club.

When a card is moved from one place to another in this arrangement (as with the Si Stebbins), 2 anomalies occur. You will create a pair of red cards in one place and a pair of blacks somewhere else. This allows you to instantly spotthe places the card was moved to and from. The only hiccup in this version is that 50% of the time you will notknow which of the 2 cards in the pair has been moved. This is why. When a card is moved, it will either go between2 pairs or between the 2 cards of a single pair so there are 2 outcomes. Either you will know instantly which of the 2cards has been moved or you will need to pump for red or black. Look first at the red pair and black pair. If thestranger card is between 2 cards from a pair, then you can name it straight away. If both cards are between 2 pairsyou will need to pump for red or black and then you can name the card.

If you decide to have a card removed as well as a card moved then you will have an extra pair of one colour.Looking at the 3 pairs, you will still need to watch for the 2 outcomes from above. If the moved card falls between 2


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cards of a pair, continue as would have done in the Si Stebbins version. If however the strangers fall between 2 pairs,you may find it easier to work out which card is missing from the spread first.

What then is the advantage over Si Stebbins? The cards are in a sequence and not an order. If you hold the pack faceup, you can cut piles of cards onto the table and either drop them onto a single pile or make several piles and re-constitute the pack in any order. The only proviso being that you have the same colour card on the face of each pile

you cut. If you don’t square the Pack and then you cut the piles sloppily, cards beneath the face card can be seen andthe fact that each pile may have a red card on the face is no longer an issue.

To begin experimenting with this, spread the cards out broadly on the table face down and simply take a card fromone place and move it somewhere else without looking at it. Now re-spread the cards face up and take a look at thenew order. Once you get used to the moved card variations, try sliding a card face down from the spread as well and work your way through the 3 pairs.


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Chapter 6Move Two Cards This effect was originally published over 50 years ago by Martin Gardner. I only recently discovered that fact but Ihave been performing it for around 30 years in various guises. (The stage version which follows is a particularfavourite). For 10 years I taught a basic magic course and this effect was week 1, trick 1. The reason I used it in thatposition was that it is so strong and so amazing, yet incredibly easy to perform. Anyone with a fear of handling cardshad nothing to worry about. The timing and premise I’ve put in place ensures that it’s not only entertaining but

bullet proof. I have performed this effect more than anything else in this book, so I’ve given you all the littleobservations and additions that make it a really complete piece. Although I’ve performed and taught it for so long,this is the first time it has seen print.

What the audience sees.

A pack of cards is shown and openly shuffled. The magician claims he will memorise the pack in a record time. Hespreads the cards widely on the table and, whilst being timed by a spectator, he works his way across the pack


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apparently memorising them. He calls ‘stop’ and remarkably matches his record. The cards are closed up and re-spread face down. He asks 2 spectators to each remove a card from the spread whilst his back is turned. Thespectators are asked to remember their cards, they then swap cards and replace the new card in the position wherethey took their original card from. The pack is now squared up. This all takes place whilst the magician’s back isturned. He turns back around and picks up the pack. Without pausing he looks through the pack and removes 2

cards. The spectators are asked to name their cards. The magician turns the 2 cards around and they are of coursecorrect.

You might take a moment to read that again and consider just how strong the effect is for laymen. A shuffled pack,looked at for 11 seconds, you touch nothing, in fact your back is turned. Cards are not removed, simply moved within the pack and yet you know which they are 100% of the time with no moves, no pumping and no gimmicks.In a dealer ad, it would sound too good to be true. The fact is this routine has been hidden in the literature for solong, it’s almost unknown. If this is your first exposure to this idea, I confidently predict that it will quickly become afavourite. I’ve fooled some very knowledgeable magicians with this over many years.

Set up

The basic method for this effect is this. The cards are divided into 2 distinct halves. A card from part A winds up inpart B and vice versa and you are able to spot the stranger cards. When I was originally shown this routine as ateenager, the cards were divided into odds and evens (indeed on stage, I still use that version as it’s a little quicker tospot, hence the variation which follows.). Gardener’s version of the groupings however is more invisible in close-upand will stand more examination.

You begin by dividing the pack into 2 groups. ‘Hook’ cards and non-hook cards. Take a look at the indexes of the

following cards and you will see that that they each have a ‘hook’ shape at the top or bottom. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, J. Theremaining cards have ‘closed’ or ‘flat’ indexes A, 4, 8, 10, Q, K. Remove all the hook cards (there will be 28) andshuffle them and place them in a pile face down on the table. Check the remaining cards (there will be 24), shufflethem and then place this pile on top.

Spread the cards face up on the table and you’ll see that they look completely mixed. There is no obvious pattern orstack. Each half has a mixture of red and black, pictures and spots, odds and evens.


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Hook Cards

Non-Hook Cards


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Method and Presentation

In order to ensure that you give yourself the maximum opportunity to nail this first time, it pays to set the idealconditions. I will only perform this on a decent sized table (like the end of a dining table) with a spectator sitting tomy right and one to my left. I have also performed in on a card table often and that is an ideal surface. It’s notideally suited to the floor or a small coffee table. If the spectators are standing, they are too mobile and it allows formistakes. This will be apparent as you work through the mechanics. I have included the patter and timing and you’llsee how this allows me to manipulate the spectators.

“Magicians use all kinds of psychological techniques and mind tricks to help them create magic and if you want to get really good, one thing you need to practice is memorising cards, you know the world memorychampion can memorise 30 shuffled packs of cards in order. That’s almost 1600 cards. Tonight, I’m goingto attempt to equal my own record….…52”

Remove the pack from the box and begin to casually overhand shuffle the first half of the pack with the facespointing towards the audience (explained in more detail in the move chapter at the end of this book). Having the

‘hook’ cards on the face, gives you slightly more than half the pack to work with. Try not to look at your hands whilst you do this. This is a very convincing false shuffle since you are genuinely shuffling cards and the spectatorscan see the face card changing constantly.

“I know it doesn’t sound so impressive but the difference I’ve added is speed, my personal best is 52 cardsin 11 seconds. I need someone to help by timing me. Does anyone have a watch with a second hand? Oreven a second hand watch? You do sir. OK, I’ll spread the cards but I won’t look until you tell me.”

Ribbon spread the cards in a wide arc on the table. Use as much space as you can. This aids the illusion ofmemorising lots of cards and sets the spectators up for the spread you will do in a moment.

“Ok, tell me when to go.”

Once the spectator says “go,” begin at the left hand end of the arc and stare at the cards, moving your gaze acrossthe spread. As you do this, count in your mind one, one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, up to 11. Time it so you get to the end of the spread as you count 11. As soon as you reach 11, say “stop”,scoop the spreadup quickly in one movement and set the pack on the table face down. If you practice this a few times you’ll get tothe point where you’ll get the timing pretty close to spot on every time. You’ll surprise yourself at how easy it is. Ona watch with a second hand, anything between 10 and 12 seconds will count as 11 and the spectator generally plays


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along. It’s not a miracle but it adds a neat moment. I make a lot of fuss about the fact that I’ve equaled my record. This proves funny to the spectators since, at this point they will not believe that you have memorised the pack. Thisfact adds tremendously to the deception later on.

Spread the cards in the same wide arc that you used before, but this time face down.

“In a moment I’m going to turn my back and, once my back is turned, I’d like you Fred, to slide a card outfrom the spread. Make sure you remember the exact spot you removed the card from.”

As you say these words, turn to the spectator on your left and look him directly in the eye, ensure you have eyecontact as you deliver the instructions. Hold your hands palm down over his half of the spread and gesture bypushing your hands towards him. (below left and right). The eye contact will ensure he is not distracted and islistening to a direct instruction. Your hand gesture is telling him that he should simply slide a card out from his half.Don’t be tempted to say “from this half.” Any narrowing of the choice sets alarm bells ringing. Your gesture and words will be enough. Now turn to the spectator on your right and repeat this exact series of steps with the eyecontact and hand gestures.


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“And I’d like you Charlie to also slide a card out from the spread and remember exactly where you got thatcard from and then I’ll tell you both what to do next.”

In the many years I’ve performed magic, I’ve had a number of effects in which the spectators are required toperform an often simple action, whilst your back is turned. I’ve had them go wrong many times, especially when I was very young. There are a myriad of things which can go wrong in this situation. Many performers simply blame

the spectators for being stupid; however the reverse is often true. Communication is the job of the performer. If thespectator does not understand fully what is expected, it isn’t their fault. In this effect, and indeed any effect wherethis kind of action is required, look at directly into their face, speak slowly and clearly and look for signs ofrecognition. They will nod and acknowledge in such a way as to communicate to you that they do understand.

The other issue which can occur is that you will get an audience member who is drunk or mischievous enough as totry and mess you around deliberately. In this situation, you have a few things which you can do to minimise thisinterference. The first, we’ve already discussed; a direct instruction delivered slowly and clearly with full eye contact. The next thing you can do in extreme circumstances is to change spectator at this point if you have any doubt as to whether they will play along. I’ve only had to do this once. Strangely it was a young girl at a corporate function. She was hell bent on messing me about from the first minute and I gained more kudos for moving her than I might havedone, had I continued.

As you turn your back, you ask each spectator to slide a card out from the spread. When you do this, turn your bodyslightly in each direction and your head a little further and you will find that your peripheral vision will allow you tosee if the spectator is moving unnaturally forwards, or leaning excessively over the table. It is very unlikely that this will occur, however if it does, you know that things are not going to go according to plan. At this point you willneed to change tack and we’ll look at this exception shortly.

“Now, I’d like you each to look at your card and remember it.”

“In fact show it to a couple of people sitting close to you.”

“Once, you’ve done that, swap cards and tell me when you’ve done that.”

“Now put your new card in the exact place where you took your original card from.”

These instructions are delivered one at a time, slowly and directly so as to ensure a clear understanding. I pause alittle at this point. I’ve watched videos of myself performing this and an interesting thing happens at this point. When the spectator returns the card to the spread, he will straighten the cards and make them neat. He is expecting


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trick where you apparently explain at the outset exactly what you are doing, appear to do exactly what you said you would do, yet achieve it by another method makes me chuckle. This, combined with the revelation makes this a realfavourite of mine. I hope you get the same pleasure from it.

Afterthoughts What to do if one spectator lean’s over and removes a card from the opposite side.

It’s all very well knowing that this has occurred, but what do you do about it? As I said already, it’s an unlikelyoccurrence but if it does happen you need to head in an alternate direction. At the point you know that it hasoccurred, turn around and scoop the cards up. The 2 selections will be either on the table or in the hands of thespectators. Either way; ask the spectators to pick the cards up and remember them. Turn your back as they do that.Now pick up the pack and have them place the cards back into the pack. If they were selected from the bottom half,they will need to go back in the top and vice versa. One way to do this, is to dribble the cards and have them throwthe cards in. You can control the dribble so that you either go slowly with the first half and drop the rest as a blockor drop a block and then dribble slowly depending on which half you need to return the cards to. You now proceedas before and look through the pack and discover the 2 cards out of place.

You can’t be half right.

If you look through the ‘hook’ section and find a ‘non-hook’ card and then look through the ‘non-hook’ section andcan’t find a ‘hook’ card then you have made a mistake. In this effect, it is not possible to be half right. If a ‘hook’card has been moved to the ‘non-hook’ section, then the opposite must also be true. There is only one exception tothis and in thousands of performances, this has happened to me only twice. If a spectator removes the very last cardin the ‘hook’ section; i.e. at the point the changeover occurs and the second spectator removes a ‘non-hook’ card asnormal, the ‘non-hook’ card is placed between the 2 sections in the middle of the spread and, in effect becomes thelast ‘non-hook’ card. In this situation, if you have looked a couple of times through the second section and still can’tfind a card out of place, it will be the first card in the other section.


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What if I look through and can’t find cards out of place?

The simple fact here is that the spectators have both selected cards from the same section and simply swapped theirpositions. The solution to this is to begin the effect from scratch. This is a pretty remarkable feat and not nailing itfirst time can add to strength of the effect. Remember the trapeze analogy. Explain that you are not sure and thatyou will start over, do the same false shuffle you did at the outset and proceed exactly as you did first time. Explain

again, exactly what you want the spectators to do. Use the hand gestures in precisely the same way.

A wide and even spread will help to eliminate this possibility. And you should practice your ribbon spread. A good way to do this is to arrange the cards for this effect and spread them face up over and over again. Aim to get thespread as wide and even as you can and each time you spread, take a look at where the 2 sections meet. This shouldbe as close to the centre of the spread as you can get it. (and, therefore the centre of the table and well away from aseated spectator).

Having a cloth on the table, especially one with a little give, will help to create the friction necessary for a goodspread. I find that using downward pressure from the first finger (or forefinger) helps to regulate the spread. A

close-up mat will never be big enough to give you the ideal size of spread necessary. A card table is ideal if you canuse one. Mine is a bridge table made in Sweden and although it was not expensive, it’s great for this effect.

Alternatives to the ‘hook’ system.

As I mentioned at the outset, I worked with this effect for many years using an odd, even separation. Odds are A, 3,5, 7, 9, J and K with evens being 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Q. This version works perfectly well. The cards are only seen for 11seconds face up and it will easily pass scrutiny for that length of time. In fact, nobody ever spotted it. I still use this

version for the stage effect which follows.

“Closed and Open” figures is an alternative to the ‘hook’ and is effectively the same. You may find it easier and so Iinclude it here for completeness. Closed figures are ones in which the index has a closed loop or section within thenumber. The closed figures are A, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, Q. Open figures are 2, 3, 5, 7, J, K.

Both of these splits will give you a separation of 28 and 24 cards and each is equally effective and invisible. You canchoose to use whichever suits you best.


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Setting up on the fly

I have often set up a pack in impromptu situations whilst performing other effects. This becomes an easier task overtime, as you become more familiar with the groups of cards. I have also set up packs in people’s houses on manyoccasions. If I spot a pack of cards on a shelf or sideboard, I will ‘borrow’ them and excuse myself to the bathroomor even re-set them whilst the host is out of the room. I’ll leave the cards where they were and wait until asked to dosomething. If that doesn’t occur, I have been known to bring the subject around to memory or card tricks. Igenerally ask if they have a pack and wait to be handed them. It is the perfect introduction to the effect. I’ve donethis for Out Of This World also.

Where can we take this idea?

As I am finishing this book off, I have been reviewing some new products for the magic shop and one of those is aDVD from Tango Magic called Invisible Stack. Without tipping the contents of the DVD, let me say that if you’veenjoyed the ‘Move 2 Cards’ effect, then you should buy the DVD. It’s around $25 and will be money well spent. You should pick and choose from this DVD but I definitely recommend it.


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t t f f i th d d i h i i t f f th t ff t d b D id


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creates a great sense of fun in the crowd and is somehow reminiscent of some of the great effects used by DavidBerglas.

What the audience sees A huge pack of cards is handed to the audience for shuffling. The cards are shown briefly to the performer whoclaims to memorise them. Two cards are selected and shown whilst the performer’s back is turned. The two cardsare shuffled back into the giant pack. The cards are collected and handed to the performer who manages to find thetwo selections.

Requirements

A pack of Jumbo or Colossal Cards. A regular pack of cards. An audience of around 100+

Set UpDivide the large cards into Odd and Even numbers; i.e. the top half of the pack contains the odd numbered cardsand the bottom half the even. You should also have an easily spotted card at the beginning of the odd stack; I like touse the ace of clubs.

Performance

Bring out the regular pack and ask a spectator in the front row to shuffle the pack and then retrieve them. Lookingtowards the back of the audience you comment.

“I wanted to show you something with these cards but I can see it’s going to be hard for you to see exactly what’s going on.”

Remove the giant cards and hand them to the same guy – This is a good sight gag.

“Shuffle those will you.”

Before he is able to begin you take the cards back explaining .

“It’s going to be hard to shuffle the whole pack at once, we’ll divide them up to make it a little easier.”

Walk to the far left of the audience and give a quarter of the cards to a spectator of the end of the row Move about


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Walk to the far left of the audience and give a quarter of the cards to a spectator of the end of the row. Move abouta quarter of the way in from the side and hand out another quarter of the pack being sure to cut at the half waypoint – The ace of clubs. A simple edge marked card would also enable you to do this without fumbling. Walk tothe far right side of the front row and hand out half of your remaining cards and then move back a quarter of the way in and hand the remaining pile. Ask each of the 4 spectators to keep their cards face down and to shuffle them

thoroughly. You will now ask the shufflers to take one card and pass the rest behind them. The cards are now distributed one byone so that one side of the audience has the even half and the other side has the odd half. You need to keepreasonable control now to ensure that there is a section in the centre of the audience who have no cards. Make surethat the cards are kept facing down. You now explain that you will try to memorise all the cards and their relativepositions. This you claim you can do in two shots of 8 seconds. Ask for a person with a second hand on their watchto time you.

“No I didn’t say a second hand watch sir, I said, does it have a second hand?”

Have all the people with cards stand up. Indicate to everyone on one side of the audience that they must hold theircards up above their heads, faces towards you, until you tell them to stop.

“Hold them up when I say go…. GO……Right, got them, put them down and sit back down”

Count to yourself from when you say go one thousand two thousand etc until you get to 7 thousand.

Stop, how long was that, 7 seconds? I’ve beaten my record.”

You now do the same with the other side of the audience, again in 7 seconds. This pre-occupation with timing andthe general hubbub and movement provides the misdirection which ensures that nobody is aware of the pattern which exists in the audience. It is also hard to get a panoramic view from anywhere except where you are standing.

It’s simply a mixture of red and black cards, pictures and spots.Once everyone is seated, have the original shuffler in the centre stand-up. Turn your back and ask him to select acard holder from each side of the audience and ask them to join him at the front. The cards are shown to theaudience and you now ask the two chosen volunteers to swap cards and return to their places. You now have thefour shufflers collect up their cards until there are four piles. At this point you turn around and retrieve the 4 pilesreforming the pack. You job is now simple, look through the pack and retrieve the odd card from the even section

and vice versa Once I have located the cards I like to put the pack down and hold the two cards one in each hand


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and vice versa. Once I have located the cards I like to put the pack down and hold the two cards, one in each hand with their backs to the audience.

“Who was it that selected the two cards? Would you stand up please, what was your card? What was yourcard? (Pause for the count of 3), It doesn’t always work, (pause) but it did tonight!”

Turn the two cards around dramatically revealing them either side of your face and you are in the applause position.

This effect can work equally well in a magic or mental performance. I’ve used it very effectively as an MC piece andyou can use it for a family audience too.


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Chapter 8

Move a Card – The Moves

The False Shuffle

This is the false overhand shuffle used in the Move 2 Cards effect. With a normal overhand shuffle, the cards areheld at a 90 degree angle to the spectators. The backs of the cards are usually facing away from the palm. Thespectators are unable to see the faces of the cards and they can see that the full deck is being shuffled.

In this version of the shuffle, hold the pack with faces away from the palm and turn your body so that the faces ofthe cards are angled towards the spectators. (top left)

Using your thumb and middle finger, grab small blocks of cards from behind the face card (top right) and shuffledthem over onto the face of the pack. (bottom left and right).


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The Charlier Shuffle


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The Charlier Shuffle

This really is one of the most effective false shuffles. I was reminded about its effectiveness when I was working with Richard Paddon on the Symbology project. As we worked through the handlings for it there, we were inagreement that it was even more effective if it was done face up and in a sloppy manner. I recommend you do it that way here too.

Hold the pack face up and loosely spread in your left hand and not perfectly square. Remove a little more than halfthe pack from the top using your right hand with thumb on top and fingers below. (left and right below).

Move the packet of cards in your right hand below the packet in your left. (below left) Using your right thumb, feed


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a few cards from the top of the right hand packet underneath those in the left hand gripping them under the packet with the left fingers. (below right)


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Now move the right hand’s packet above the left hand’s packet and, using the right fingers, feed a few cards fromthe underside of the right packet onto the top of the left packet where they are gripped with the left thumb.

You can now repeat each of the above actions 2 or 3 times until you have exhausted the cards in the right hand.

This shuffle is so effective, the first couple of times, you should have the cards in numeric order in order to prove toyourself that it is indeed false. It really will fool you. I remember showing this at a lecture once and an incrediblyfamous US close-up guy came up to me later to go over it with me. Even at a snail’s pace, he was still not convincedit was a false shuffle. He had somehow managed 20 years of conventions including awards at FISM for cards andstill was not aware of it!

When the shuffle is complete, you will have a different card on the top and bottom but the cards will still be in theoriginal order. If you do want to go back to exactly the original position, you’ll need to cut to the original face card.In some routines I do where this is necessary, I use a corner short.


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The Ribbon Spread

To achieve an even and wide ribbon spread, you do need to cards to be in reasonable condition. If they are old, dirtyor sticky in any way, you will struggle to get anything half decent.

I have to confess, I never read much on ribbon spreading, I just did it hundreds of times until I felt I’d gotsomething which looked and felt good.

My best tip on this is to use the first finger or fore finger to apply pressure to the long edge of the deck and toregulate the speed that the cards are allowed to come free from the deck. In a sense, you are pushing the cardsdownwards towards the surface of the table. You should also be able to move quite briskly (below).

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Moving Cards