Royal Road to Card Magic The

some number, say between ten and twenty, and no doubt my card will be at this number.'
    5. Someone names a number, say fourteen. Have your assistant deal fourteen cards face downwards, reversing their order. 'My card was the four of hearts,' you say, naming the card you glimpsed in step 1. 'Look at the next card.' He looks at the card at the top of the rest of the pack, but it is not your four of hearts. Have him turn it face downwards and replace the dealt cards on the pack.
    6. 'Horrible experience, wasn't it?' you say sympathetically. 'It has happened to me, too. But when something goes wrong, always blame it on the spectator. Tell him he wasn't concentrating. Then ask someone else to name a number, say a number between twenty and thirty.'
    7. Have a second spectator name such a number. Let us say it is twenty-five. Have your assistant deal twenty-five cards face downwards, thus reversing their order, and look at the next card on the pack. It still is not your four of hearts. Have it turned face downwards and the dealt packet replaced.
    8. 'Well,' you say, 'you've not done very well, have you? I'm afraid I'll have to take over.' Take the pack from him and give it a little shake. 'I think that will do it,' you comment. 'Now, I believe in the happy medium. The first number was fourteen and the second was twenty-five, and the difference between the two is eleven. To find my card I will deal eleven cards, like this [here you deal off eleven cards], and the next card is my card, the four of hearts!' Turn this card face upwards and show that it actually is the four of hearts.
    The trick is entirely automatic if the above procedure is followed. It is only necessary to have the first spectator name a number between ten and twenty, and the second to name a number between twenty and thirty.
    A Poker Puzzle
    Can you deal a good poker hand?' is a question that is almost certain to be asked after you have shown your prowess with cards. The routine that follows has been arranged to convince the questioner that you can.
    1. 'Can I deal a good poker hand?' you repeat. The answer to that is - yes and no. I'd better show you what I mean. No doubt you've read articles on the methods used by the gamblers - everyone has heard of second dealing and bottom dealing, although very few people have seen these sleights performed. In poker, the gambler arranges to get the high cards of course. Let me show you the usual method. I'll use the four kings.' As you are talking in this vein, run through the cards with the faces towards yourself and, as you come to each king or ace, slip the kings to the bottom and the aces to the top of the pack. Do this casually without explaining what you are doing.
    2. Take off the four kings and show them. 'Four kings make a good hand,' you say, 'so the gambler places the cards he wants on the bottom of the pack.' Place the four kings on the bottom.
    3. 'We shall suppose it is a five-handed game. The gambler deals four cards, but when he deals one to himself he pulls off the bottom card, so.' Do this openly, laying the king face downwards before you.
    4. Continue the deal in the same way, each time pulling out a king for yourself as you explain that by years of tedious practice the gambler can make this false deal imperceptibly. When you have dealt yourself the four kings from the bottom, deal the next five cards in the ordinary way. You have dealt five hands of five cards each and you show that you have four kings.
    5. 'That is the gambler's method,' you say. Gather up the other four hands carelessly in any order, but without disturbing their sequence, and drop them on top of the pack. Do not expose the face cards, which are the four aces. Drop your own hand with the four kings on the pack last of all. The deck is now stacked to give you the four aces on a deal of five hands.
    6. False shuffle the pack by undercutting not more than twenty cards, injogging the first card and shuffling off. Form a break at the injog, shuffle to the break and throw the cards below it on top, thus returning the top thirty cards to their original position.
    'That is the way a gambler does it,' you explain. 'However, you asked me if I could deal a good poker hand, and I must remind you that I am not a gambler and therefore never use the gamblers' methods. If I did try to deal myself a good hand I'd use magic, like this. Watch my hands and see if you can find any fault with the way I deal.'
    7. Deal five hands of five cards each in