This is a simple, but rather effective, method of ending a trick, when it is desired to display the particular card chosen by one of the company. It is to be used at pleasure for this purpose, irrespective of the method in which the trick otherwise is performed.

For example, let us suppose that you have noted the ace of hearts on the bottom of the pack. You use a false shuffle, and then make the pass, so that the ace of hearts is in the middle of the pack after the manner described in connection with forcing a card. You next force some one to draw this particular card, and allow him, after looking at it, to replace it wherever he chooses in the pack, and then to shuffle the cards himself.

Taking back the deck, you run over it until you locate the ace of hearts, after which you cut the cards so that the ace is on the top of the pack. This operation should be followed by a false shuffle that leaves the ace still the top card. With the pack held in both hands, you raise it a distance of about two feet above the table, and at the same time you slide the top card secretly about a half-inch to the left, so that this edge of it projects beyond the remainder of the deck.

You now take away the left hand, and then, using care to hold the cards quite level, suddenly let them fall to the table. If properly executed, the pack as a whole falls and lies face downward on the table, but the top card is affected by the rush of air against its projecting side during the fall, and the force of this is sufficient to turn the card over. Thus, at the end of the trick, the ace of hearts drawn by the spectator suddenly appears lying face upward on the pack in distinction from all the other cards.

Any known card may be revealed to the company in this manner. A simple combination would be to use “The Indicated Card” trick just described, with the variation of not naming the card after showing it to the company. Then permit the cards to be shuffled, and afterward run through them yourself to locate the card, which you already know. Bring it to the top of the deck, and by way of concluding the trick display it face upward on the pack by dropping to the table according to the directions.

This is perhaps the simplest possible form of a card trick done by sleight of-hand. Holding the deck in the left hand, after having observed the bottom card, with the fingers of the right hand over the top end of the cards, you draw the cards back a little one by one, descending from the top. At the same time, you invite the spectators to halt you at any preferred card. When the choice is made known, you draw back this card, together with all the cards above it, and hold out this portion of the pack with the face of the bottom card toward the company, and you name the card.

The spectators believe that the card thus shown them is that on which the choice fell. As a matter of fact, they are deceived by your sleight-of-hand. For, as you draw off the cards and separate them from the lower part of the deck, you draw off also by means of the thumb of your right hand, which presses against it, the bottom card. As you lift the cards up, the thumb holds this card from the bottom tightly against the indicated card, and it thus becomes the one displayed to the spectators instead of the card really selected. Since you have been at pains to notice the bottom card before beginning the trick, you now have no difficulty in naming it.

In doing this trick, it is advisable always after observing the bottom card to give the pack a false shuffle, and then proceed to the trick without any apparent attention to the arrangement of the cards.

Often in performing a trick, it is necessary to shuffle the cards with apparent thoroughness, while yet preserving unchanged a certain order in which they have been placed. Thus, it may be desired to maintain the position of a particular card on the bottom of the pack; or on the top; or at some point near one or the other. In such case, the shuffling must be done in such a manner that this special card is undisturbed.

If it is required to maintain the bottom card or cards in that position, the pack may be held in the left hand, and shuffled seemingly as usual. To accomplish this, care is taken when raising the cards in the right hand to have the clasp of the left hand relaxed, so that the thumb and finger may lift out part of the cards ‘for the shuffle, while leaving the bottom unchanged. The cards so lifted are shuffled in the ordinary way above the others. A second portion may be similarly drawn out and shuffled without disturbing the bottom of the pack. It is impossible for the spectators to perceive that the bottom part of the pack is not Iifted up.

If the requirement is to maintain the top of the pack unchanged, it is necessary only to shuffle in the usual manner, taking up as much of the pack as may be desired from the under portion, and shuffling these over on the upper portion. The one peculiarity in this operation is that the cards thus shuffled over are so dropped as to project their forward end a Iittle beyond the original top cards now below them. Then, when the shuffle is completed, it is merely required to pick up this lower part of the deck, and restore it to its place on top, thus securing the desired result by what appears to be the final operation of the shuffle.

Either of the false shuffles may be continued for any length of time in the same manner.

It is even simpler to effect a false shuffle when the two halves of the pack are laid on the table, and there riffled. It is now necessary to begin the mingling of the two portions of the deck after letting the bottom cards first fall without admixture, if the arrangement of the bottom part is to be preserved j or to complete the mingling before reaching the top of the deck, if the particular order is located there.

This false shuffle also may be safely repeated any number of times without danger of detection.

Certain other instructions as to sleight of-hand will be given in connection with various tricks for which they are requisite. But the foregoing are the most important features of sleight-of-hand in connection with cards, and proficiency in them is constantly demanded for successful performance. The student is advised to practice them diligently, in order to gain the mastery before attempting to make use of them in public.

Forcing a card is one of the constant requirements in the performance of card tricks. To a great extent, the precise details must vary according to the individual performer and the particular circumstances in each case. It would be quite impossible to cover all these, but the underlying principle is very simple, and, once it has been mastered, there remains only the necessity for such practice as shall make it readily available at all times and easily variable according to changing conditions.

The only preparation required is knowledge as to the location of a certain card. Perhaps the simplest method is to observe secretly the bottom card of the pack, and then to cut the cards while holding them in the two hands, and to keep the little finger between the two parts after the cut is made. The student should note here that in thus cutting the cards he is to follow exactly the procedure already described for making the pass with two hands. By this means, he conceals the fact of the cut from the spectators. Thus, if the cards have been thoroughly shuffled, they cannot suspect that he knows a particular card in the central portion of the deck. Nevertheless, he does possess such knowledge, since the card that was on the bottom is now lying next above his Iittle finger.

You offer the pack so that someone may draw out a card. In doing this, the pack remains lying in the left hand. The right hand seizes the upper part of the deck. the thumb on top, and all the fingers below, their tips resting against the known card, which is indicated by the position of the little finger of the left hand. You spread the cards slightly, as if inviting the person to choose one. As his fingers approach any card, the fingers of your right hand slide forward the known card.

At the very instant when the fingers of the chooser touch the cards, the known card must project a little beyond the others, so that the reaching fingers naturally fall on it, and it is drawn. It is advisable often to make a sIight, almost imperceptible movement of the whole pack thus spread in readiness for the choice, so that by this movement the known card is brought actually within the grasp of the chooser, quite without his knowledge of the fact that it is being substituted for the card he had meant to select.

In performing this trick, the student must be alert to study his failures in order to guard against a repetition of them. It is well to practice with someone in your confidence, in order thoroughly to familiarize yourself with the method before attempting its use for deception. Practice will develop an astonishing amount of skill in the fingers of the right hand, so that, as the pack is held loosely spread out in the two hands, the known card, by the pressure of the finger tips on which it rests, may be moved from the middle of the deck to the bottom and back to the top – indeed, here and there as required.

Often, the chooser will change his mind, and, after seeming about to take a card near the top, reach suddenly for one at the bottom. But, in such case, the known card follows his movement easily and swiftly, first to the top, then to the bottom. Faithful practice offers the only way to success in this matter of forcing a card, and its rewards are sure, bringing to the performer a facility to win the admiration of those whom he entertains.

The shifting of a cut is of vital importance for the accomplishment of innumerable tricks. Whenever any of the cards are arranged in a certain position, it is necessary to maintain them in their order, but, at the same time, it is also necessary, in order to deceive the spectators as to this fact of arrangement, to offer the cards for cutting.

After the cut has been made, the performer must restore the pack to the exact condition it had before being cut, and he must do this without permitting anyone to detect the operation. Such a shifting of the cut has been commonly called by magicians, “making the pass.” It may be done in many different ways, and it may be successfully accomplished by the use of either both hands or only one.

Usually, however, the use of both hands is by far the more effective, because it permits the greater speed and secrecy. The description that follows gives in detail the best method of shifting the cut by the use of both hands. It is given here at the outset in order that the student may immediately begin the practice of it. It is essential that he should attain a considerable degree of proficiency in performing this feat if he would attain reputation as a magician.

In picking up the cards after the pack has been separated into two parts by cutting, you must take up first from the table with the right hand the portion that belongs properly underneath, and lay it in the left hand. You then pick up the other portion and lay it also in the left hand above the other, but in doing so you take care to thrust the little finger of the left hand forward, so that it remains between the two portions, thus keeping them separate. This operation of the little finger is concealed from the spectators by the right hand, which remains palm downward covering the whole pack.

The little finger is maintained in its position between the two halves of the pack, and the other three fingers of the left hand are closed over the top of the pack. The thumb of the left hand also lies over the top of the deck. Now, by a pressure on the ends of the lower part, the second finger and thumb of the right hand move the lower section of the cards a little to the left within the angle of the left thumb.

At the same time, by a pressure of the little finger of the left hand underneath and the three fingers of the left hand above, the upper part of the pack is moved to the right. The effect is still hidden by the right hand. But this separation of the two portions is sufficient so that the upper portion firmly held between the little finger of the left hand below and the other three fingers above, may have its left edge tilted upward. In the same moment, the thumb and finger of the right hand, pressing on the ends of the lower section of the cards, tilt the right edge of that portion upward, lifting it clear of the left edge of the other section of cards, and a little above. By a closing movement of the left hand, the two parts of the deck are again brought to a level, but now the portion between thumb and finger of the right hand, which was originally underneath, slides into place on top, and the shifting of the cut has been accomplished.

Although a description of the process requires so long in the telling, the actual operation requires only the tiniest fraction of a second. When performed with a reasonable degree of skill, it is absolutely invisible to even the most observant spectator. The student should practice making the pass very slowly and carefully until he has familiarized himself with its various movements. He must attain perfect certainty as to each detail, before making any least effort toward speed. When by careful slowness he has acquired sureness, he should continue the practice until the necessary rapidity also marks his execution of the feat.

Shifting the cut with one hand is often useful, but it should never be attempted except when the attention of the company is diverted by the action of the other hand. By skill, this shift may be rendered almost invisible to the spectator, but not quite, since there is lacking the concealment offered by the other hand in the method already described.

In making this shift, the cut cards are first laid in the left hand, just as for the first method. But, now, before the right hand is removed, it slides the upper part of the pack a little way to the left. At the same time, the first and little fingers of the left hand are bent under the lower section of cards, and the other two fingers of the same hand are pressed on the top of this section, on the margin left by the sliding of the top cards to the left. The right hand is now taken away, and the whole pack is held between the thumb of the left hand and the fingers in the manner described, with the upper part of the deck extended to the left beyond the lower part.

The base of the thumb is now pressed against the left edge of the upper section, so that the right edge is tilted upward. At the same time, the fingers move to the right, carrying the lower section with them, and by further movement of the fingers the left edge of this lower section is tilted upward, until it clears the tilted edge of the other section, and extends above.

The pressure of the thumb is relaxed, allowing the upper section to fall level
on the palm of the hand. In the same instant, the fingers close, bringing the lower section to rest above the other. The first finger and the Iittle finger in this movement slip from beneath to join the other fingers on top of the deck. Thus the portion of cards that was underneath is now above, and the cut has been shifted.

The student will find that this method needs considerable practice, but careful repetitions until the exact movements are acquired will result in a skill such that the shift may be performed easily during the dropping of the left hand to the table as if merely to even the edges of the cards.

The following is a remarkably effective way of concluding a trick when it is desirable to display in an astonishing manner a card selected by one of the company. Thus, it might be used in connection with the foregoing trick.

Instead of giving the two parts of the prepared deck to two persons, you should give only half, to one person, for example the red cards. You then bid him draw out one of the cards, and after he has done so, you take back from him the other red cards. You now direct him to observe the card he has retained. When he has done so, you offer him the black half of the deck, bidding him replace the card and shuffle. On taking back the cards, a glance through them enables you to find the card chosen, since it will be the one red among the twenty-six black cards. But you do not announce the card. Instead, you proceed to the conclusion of the trick, in this wise:

On discovering the selected card, you advance one card beyond it, and then cut the cards so that the chosen card will be next to the top card. I t is necessary now to shuffle the cards a little, in order to mingle the red and black, but in doing this care must be taken to maintain the position of the top two cards.

You next lay face downward on the table nine cards in three rows of three cards each, and then another nine on top of these, making eighteen in all. As you lay these cards down from left to right, it is obvious that the chosen card, which was next to the top of the deck, must be the second card laid down on the table, and it is now therefore the bottom card of the two in the middle of the first row. This location must be carefully remembered, since it is of vital importance to the trick.

When the cards have thus been distributed, you ask the chooser of the card to select one of the vertical rows. After he has indicated his choice, your procedure depends on whether or not he has chosen the middle row, which of course includes his card. If he has chosen the middle row, you immediately pick up the other two rows, and throw them aside. You then ask him to choose one of the three pairs of the middle row left lying on the table. If he now selects the top pair, of which the bottom one is his original card, you now leave this pair, but take away the other two pairs. You finally bid him select one of the two cards left. If he selects his own card, you cast aside the other, and direct him to turn over the one he’ has selected, when to his amazement he discovers that it is in fact the card of his original selection.

But if, of the two cards, he should indicate the one not originally chosen by him, you simply cast this card aside in a matterof-fact manner, and remark that there now remains only a single card out of the eighteen laid down, and bid him turn this over. When he does so, his astonishment is unbounded to recognize in it the card of his choice.

It is in this various method of treating the person’s selection of rows and cards that the secret of the trick is to be found. The student would naturally suppose that an intelligent person must notice the difference between leaving a row on the table or throwing it aside after it has been selected. But the intelligent person does not so notice.

Thus, for example, if at the outset he should choose either of the other rows instead of the middle row, you instantly cast this row aside, and bid him choose again one of the two remaining rows. If now he chooses the third row, that in turn is cast aside, and afterward the procedure with the middle row, which is the only one now left, is exactly as described above. But if instead of choosing the third row, he chooses the middle row, your action is the same as before, for you cast aside the third row, and continue with the trick in the manner described above.

So, too, in reference to the middle row: whatever pair is chosen, your procedure must be the same. As a matter of form, you ask him to choose one of the pairs. But, unless he chooses the top pair which contains his card, you cast aside the pair he chooses, and bid him make another selection, when again you cast aside his choice, if it be not the top pair. It is indeed curious that you are able in such fashion either to retain his selection on the table, or to remove it, without his ever discovering the flagrant deception, but so it is.

This trick was invented by the author, and has been frequently used by him during many years, without the method of it ever having been detected by the observers. At the present time, it is employed often by professional magicians. In spite of its effectiveness, it is exceedingly simple, and for that reason is included in this portion of the book. Indeed, in its very simplicity is found the reason for its power to mystify those beholding it.

In performing the trick, you give one half of the pack to one person, and the other half to a second person. You direct these two individuals each to draw out a card. While each retains the selected card, you take back the other cards.

You then direct each of the two persons to look secretly at the card he holds, and to remember it. When they have done so, you return to each of them a half portion of the deck, and bid them place their cards with the others, and shuffle them to any desired extent. When you finally receive back the cards, you are able after glancing through them rapidly to name both of the chosen cards, and you may end the trick by simply announcing what cards were drawn, or in anyone of the ways to be described later on for concluding a trick. One such method will be given under the next heading as an ending to this portion of the book.

The means by which this trick is accomplished is arrangement of the cards, and not sleight-of-hand, although it is necessary to deceive the observers in one particular as to what is actually done with the cards themselves.

You prepare for the trick privately by separating a pack of cards into its two colors. To one person, you must give that portion of the deck containing all black cards; to the other person, that portion of the deck containing all red cards.

You next bid each of them to draw out a card, and to retain it. You then take back the other cards from them, holding the packet of red cards in one hand and the packet of black cards in the other hand.

You now direct the two persons to look at their cards and to remember them. After they have done so, you give to each again a half of the deck, with instructions to place therein the chosen card, and to shuffle it as much as he will with the others.

It is at this point that the trick is essentially accomplished, for you must give to each of the two that portion of the pack which was originally given to the other. In doing this, it is not necessary that you change the cards you hold. All that is required is that, to the person from whom you took the cards into your left hand, you should now give the cards in your right ‘hand, while you should give the cards in your left hand to the other person from whom you took back the cards into your right hand.

Since all of the cards given to one individual were red, and to the other black, the card retained by the one person must be red, and the card retained by the other person must be black. By your changing of the two portions of the deck, one of the two persons places his red card among the black cards, while the other places his black card among the red.

No amount of shuffling can alter the fact that there is thus one red card in the black half of the deck, and one black card in the red half of the deck. On receiving back the two portions, you bring them together, but without shuffling. By swiftly running over the cards from the end, you will note the one red card among the black cards, and
the one black among the red.

In this one trick, four cards selected by four different persons are readily discovered by the performer, in the following manner:

Four cards are given to a member of the company, a second four to another person, and a third and fourth four to two others. You direct each of those holding these cards to choose one mentally, and to shuffle his packet of four containing it as much as he pleases.

For your own part, you must take care to remember each of the four persons according to the order in which you now take back the cards.

You receive one of the packets and hold it in the left hand, face upward. Bear in mind that the person from whom you take these cards is number one. You similarly take a second packet, which you lay face upward on the first in the left hand. The one from whom you receive these is to be remembered as number two. The procedure is the same for the remaining two packets, taken from the persons whom you designate to yourself as number three and number four respectively.

You next deal the cards from the left hand, laying each face upward on the table. In this distribution, you place the cards from left to right in a row of four, and repeat this operation until all are displayed on the table. There are thus four heaps, with four cards in each heap.

A brief reflection at this point will explain the manner of the trick. The four cards received from number one were the first four cards laid down. Therefore, the card selected by number one is the bottom card in one of the four heaps. Similarly, the four cards held by number two now make the second card in each of the heaps, and the card chosen by him is the socond card in one of those piles. The card selected by number three is likewise the third card in one of the piles, and the card of number four is the fourth.

After the cards have been thus laid out, you ask each of the four persons to indicate the particular pile containing his card. You can then instantly name the cards selected, because the card of number one is the first or bottom one in the pile he points out; the card of number two is the second card in the pile pointed out by him, and the cards of number three and number four are respectively the third and the fourth cards in the heaps indicated.

This trick, may be performed also for three persons, giving three cards to each, and afterward distributing them in three piles. Or it might be done, if not too much of a tax on the memory, for a larger number of persons up to seven, making in each case the number of cards given to each person correspond to the number of persons, and having a like number of separate piles in the final arrangement.

Place the sixteen court cards and aces together anywhere in the pack. Then, offer the pack to be cut, with the purpose of separating this assembly of the high cards. You must take care, however, that only a simple or whist cut is used: the pack must not be shuffled. Any, number of persons may thus cut the deck any number of times.

On receiving back the deck you should secretly notice the bottom card. If it be one of the high cards, you should yourself give a final cut to the pack, declaring that it is merely for luck.

It is well to allow one of the spectators to run over the cards and thus to disclose the fact that the assembly of high cards remains absolutely undisturbed by the numerous cuts.

As a matter of fact, it is quite impossible by cutting to separate such a collection of cards in the pack, except by bringing part to the top and part to the bottom, and such separation will be ended by the next cut, which must bring the two parts together. It is against this possibility of separation that you need to take precaution by observing the bottom card, and then adding a cut if required. But only rarely will this be necessary. The trick is simple, but it will be found baffling to most spectators, who are totally unable to understand the ineffectiveness of the cut in this instance.

This is a trick that depends entirely on the arrangement of the cards.

Take the twelve face cards, that is, the king, queen and knave of each suit. Distribute these on the table face upward in three rows of four for each row. In doing so, you must take care to see that all four suits are in the first row. That is to say, there must be no duplicates in suit. But the value of the four cards is of no importance. Only, each card, whatever its value, must be of a different suit from the other three in the row.

Now, in laying down the second row, the first card must have the same suit as the last card in the first row. Then, the second card must have the suit of the first card in the first row; the third card must have the suit of the second card in the first row, and the last card of this second row must have the suit of the third card in the row above. Thus, the second row also has the four suits, as did the first row. And, again, the value of the cards is of no importance.

For the third row, the beginning is similarly with the suit of the last card in the preceding row. The second card in the third row has the suit of the first card in the preceding row: the third card, the suit of the second card in the preceding row: the fourth card, the suit of the third card in the preceding row.

You next gather up the cards, one by one, beginning with the last card of the third row, and placing on it in their order the last card of the second row, and of the first row. You then lay on these the third card of the last row, and after it in their order the third card in each row above. You continue with the second card of the last row and the second card of each row above in order. The series is finished by laying down the first card of each row, beginning at the bottom as before.

Having thus assembled the face cards, offer them face downward to anyone for cutting. They may be cut any number of. times, but they must not be shuffled.

Now, lay the cards face upward on die table. Four cards are first laid down in a row. These are followed by four more similarly laid down on the first row, and the remainder of the cards are distributed in like manner.

It will be found that in each of tlie four heaps, the three cards comprise the king, queen and knave of the same suit, though not necessarily in this order.