The spectator freely selects a card and it is returned to the deck. The cards are shuffled together. The magician says he will need three chances to locate the selection. He cuts to a 3, deals three cards, and reveals a 7. Then he deals seven cards and reveals a J. Finally, he deals eleven cards and arrives at the spectator's card.
Three cards used to find one card? Not exactly. Those three cards didn't just locate the selection - they also revealed the other three cards of the same value.
Performance transcript:
- As I riffle the deck, have the spectator call stop anywhere.
- Freely select a card.
- Suppose the spectator stops here.
- Have them remember the card they stopped at.
- Then return it to the deck.
- Next, shuffle the cards.
- I’ll even shuffle them together thoroughly.
- And under these conditions, I'll try to locate the spectator's card.
- One final shuffle.
- Then give the deck a small cut.
- This is the position I cut to.
- A Three—is that your card? The spectator says no.
- Then give me three chances.
- If the Three isn't your card, I'll deal three cards.
- A Seven — is that your card? The spectator still says no.
- Not your card, so I deal seven cards.
- The last one is a Jack — still not it, so I deal eleven cards.
- So I randomly found three cards, none of them were yours.
- But by dealing the corresponding numbers, we stopped at this card.
- What was your card? The Ten of Clubs.
- And this card happens to be the Ten of Clubs.
- Why did I need three cards to find the Ten of Clubs?
- Because those three cards not only located your Ten of Clubs—they also helped me find the other three Tens.
1st edition 2026, video 6:49.
