Royal Road to Card Magic The

the spectator. He points to one of the three, which you pick up and spread with the faces of the cards towards him. 'I picked up my hand and noticed in it a card that has always brought me good luck. Since you're playing my part, will you think of one of these cards? Don't name it, merely think of it.'
    3. Drop the five cards on the pack, then pick up the other two hands and place them on the pack also. Shuffle, using the overhand shuffle control, retaining top stock to keep the fifteen cards at the top of the pack. As you make this shuffle you say, 'My story doesn't really become interesting until about two weeks later, when I was in a five-handed poker game.' Deal five hands from the top of the deck. The spectator's card will be the third card in whichever hand he finds it in. Hold the remainder of the deck in your hand, saying, 'On the very first deal, the dealer gave me my good luck card. Since you know which card it is, and I don't, will you tell me if it is in one of these hands?' Show each hand in turn until he tells you that he sees his card. Drop this hand on one of the other hands, pick up both and drop them on a third, then pick up the three hands and drop them at the top of the pack. Finally pick up the two remaining hands and place them on top of all. Do this casually, saying, 'Do you see what was happening to me? My good luck card was following me around!'
    4. Undercut the pack, run one card on to the cards remaining in the left hand, injog the next card and shuffle off the rest. Undercut at the injog and drop the undercut on top. You have returned the first fifteen cards to the top, with one extra card above them, thus placing the spectator's card fourteenth from the top. As you do this, explain, 'This is all background so that you will understand what happened next, when I was playing bridge - and I don't mind saying that even now I don't believe it could have happened.
    5. 'On the very first hand the dealer gave me my thirteen cards.' Deal thirteen cards, push them over to him and say, 'See if your good luck card is in the hand.' When he has picked up the cards to look at them, palm the top card of the remainder of the pack, which will be the spectator's card, and lay the rest of the cards on the table. In a natural manner, adjust your chair by seizing the edge between your legs with your right hand, at the same time dropping the palmed card on the chair seat as you rise a little to draw the chair closer to the table. When you are again seated, the card is well under you.
    The assisting spectator announces that his card is not among those you dealt him. 'Amazing!' you exclaim. 'It's happened again! Tell me, what was the name of the card of which you thought?'
    When he names his card, you turn to the others. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to bear witness to what has happened here tonight. All that my friend has done is think of a card, nothing more nor less. He tells us now that it is the four of diamonds [or whatever the card is] and I say that it could not possibly have been the four of diamonds, because I have been sitting on that card all evening!'
    Get up, lift the chair for all to see the card and shake it on to the table. It is the spectator's card!
    Do It and Fail
    The trick that we now give you is one that has challenged the wits of many thousands of people. It is especially suitable for use after dessert, when the company is relaxed, the talk is general and everyone is in a congenial mood. It is not a trick for a set performance.
    The trick is one that people remember. One famous magician, while making an ocean voyage, performed it at the dinner table every night at the insistence of his fellow voyagers, and years later shipboard acquaintances would remind him of the trick and ask him to explain it. Such a trick is a good one.
    The effect is that the magician does a trick, explains it and then allows the spectators to do it, or fail utterly, at his will.
    One sleight only is used, the palm, but it is done at favourable moments and, since you present the trick as a puzzle, no one thinks of sleight of hand being used.
    1. Take a pack of cards, turn it face upwards, and, saying that you will use a few cards of each suit in order to save time, take out seven cards of the same suit as the face card. Do not openly count them or give anyone else a chance of doing so; square them and put the packet down. Do the same with each of the other three suits, thus making a packet of twenty-eight cards.