Royal Road to Card Magic The

the card at your number,' you point out. 'What was the name of your card?' He tells you and when you turn the card you placed to one side, it is the spectator's card.
    If, however, he stops the deal on an indifferent card, you remove the next card from the top of the pack, saying, 'You stopped the deal on this card.' Whatever its value, deal that many more cards and the last one will be the chosen card.
    The trick has an impressive effect out of all proportion to the simple means involved.
    Reds and Blacks
    The secret of this trick is known to many people. However, it is used by many conjurors of the first rank, who present it with such polish that it deceives even those who know the method.
    Before presenting the trick, place all the red cards at the top of the pack, the black cards at the bottom. Turn the first of the black cards face upwards in the deck.
    1. False shuffle the cards, using the overhand false shuffle. Spread the cards and notice that one card is 'accidentally' reversed. Run all the cards above the reversed card into the right hand, turn the reversed card face downwards, and reassemble the pack, inserting the tip of your little finger between the two packets as you do so.
    2. Riffle the outer end of the pack with the right hand; apparently cut the pack haphazardly but actually cut at the little finger break (figure 126). Place all the red cards at your right, the black cards at your left.

    3. Turn your back and instruct someone to cut either packet, remove one card and replace the cut. Have him look at and remember the card, then thrust it in the centre of the other packet, finally shuffling this packet.
    4. Next have him cut the first packet, place the shuffled packet on the lower portion of the cut, and replace the upper portion on all.
    5. Turn around, take the deck and hold it with its face towards yourself so that no one else can see the cards. Pretend to search for the chosen card, but actually cut the pack to bring all the reds and blacks together for a repetition of the trick if this seems desirable.
    6. Finally remove the spectator's card. It will be the only black card among the reds, or vice versa. Have the card named and show that you hold it in your hand.
    Repeat the trick if this seems warranted. If not, shuffle the deck, thus destroying all clues to the ways and means.

CHAPTER 19

Routines

    Planning a Card Trick Routine
    When the neophyte has mastered several tricks, he is faced with the necessity of creating a routine with them, that is to say, arranging them in the best possible order so that the fullest effect can be drawn from each feat and so that they will follow one another smoothly without any hesitation or delay. This programming of tricks is most important. If one relies solely on knowing a number of separate tricks, all too often one's mind goes blank after a trick or two before an audience. This is true even with advanced conjurors. A floundering attempt is then made to recall some simple feat, and instead of arriving at a triumphant climax one has to close ignominiously.
    To avoid such a disaster, the only plan is to arrange one's tricks in a certain sequence, so that, having started with one trick, the rest follow automatically with no effort of memory whatever. Roughly the plan should be to start with a good trick, one that arouses interest at the very beginning, continue with tricks the effects of which are on an ascending scale of interest, and finish with the strongest effect of the series.
    In using the word mastered in the first sentence of this chapter, we mean that the student has his tricks literally at his fingertips and that he can do them at a moment's notice, anywhere and with any pack that may be handed to him. This is the only way in which to get complete satisfaction from performing and to give complete satisfaction to your audiences. Make up your mind at once that it is better to know a few tricks thoroughly than it is to half-know several dozen.
    Let us suppose that the conditions are that you are called upon to entertain a small group and that a pack of cards has been handed to your. Begin with:
    Topsy-turvy Cards Introduce the trick with some remark about testing the cards to see if they have been well trained. Finding that the cards are satisfactory, continue with:
    Now You See It! This is a 'mistake' trick, in which it appears that you cannot complete your trick successfully and yet at the last moment you turn the tables and finish triumphantly.