Peter Duffie is an extremely clever and skilled card man from the UK, a scotsman to be precise. In this ebook he will teach you 13 easy to do card effects with a normal deck of cards. Enjoy!
1st edition, 2000.
ACECRAFT: Two selections - four Aces - and an unexpected outcome. All in a day's work.
SUDDEN IMPACT: The audience believe you are going to cut to the Aces - they get a bigger surprise when you don't!
POPULACE: This very easy way of doing Roy Walton's Collectors has been my working repertoire for a while.
IMPOSSIBLE OPENER: Two spectators select cards in the fairest of manners. Your back is to the audience during the selection process. Without even looking through the deck, you instantly name both cards!
A PIECE OF THE ACTION: This is a combination of the Ambitious Card and a Sandwich trick. This uses the Balducci Force but a Riffle Force can be substituted.
AUTO-MATCH PREDICTION 2: You write something on a piece of paper and lay this writing side down on the table. Next you show two packets of 8 cards blank faced cards, each containing a random assortment of red and blue backs. The faces of the cards are unimportant. You give a packet to one spectator, and the other packet to a second spectator. They both mix their cards keeping them face up. They now each select a card from their packet and those two cards are placed together on the table. They continue to do this until there are ten individual pairs of cards lying on the table. You now lift each pair and turn them face down. Some of the pairs match in colour, and some don't. Let's say that only three of the pairs match. Your prediction is turned over and it say, "Only Three Pairs Will Match."
ODDITIES: Another trick with color - but the faces this time. A packet of about twenty cards is cut a few times by a spectator. He now notes and remembers the top card of the packet, and another spectator remembers the bottom card. These two cards are now removed and lost into the middle of the main deck. The spectator now deals the packet into two piles. You pick up the deck and give it a sharp riffle towards each packet of cards, saying that this transports the two selected cards back to the packets. When the two piles are turned over and spread, one consists of all black cards and one odd red card. The other pile consists of all red cards and one odd black card. The two oddities are the selected cards.
SECONDS AWAY!: This is an alternative way of achieving the previous effect without a Second Deal. Before commencing set the deck with the reds and blacks alternating throughout. You require 2 assisting spectators who we will refer to as A and B.
THE STRAGGLER: A selected card is placed between the two black Jacks. The complete sandwich is pushed into the middle of the deck. At your command the two black Jacks rise to the top. However, where is the chosen card? Upon spreading the deck the selection is seen to be still in the middle, but it has somehow mysteriously reversed.
The Enigma of the 7th Card: You remove six cards from the deck, then a spectator freely selects a seventh. The spectator's card is pushed into the middle of your six cards. You count the packet to show that there are indeed seven cards and that all are face down. You now turn the top card face up, saying, "Playing cards are rather like sheep, what one does the others do." Immediately you fan the packet revealing that all the cards are now face up. That is, except for one card in the middle that has remained face down. This proves to be the seventh card - the selection.
HANDY: A packet trick using five cards. Each card has a letter of the alphabet printed on it. A spectator mixes the cards then turns over any four of them. The four cards spell the word - HAND. When the fifth card is turned over it has the picture of a hand printed on it.
PHANTOM STAB: You require one have Double-Backed card. This will be referred to as the gimmick. We also use the Balducci Cut-Deeper Force, but not to force a card. The procedure is used to automatically position the cards for the finale - which the spectator kindly does for you! The gimmick is loaded onto the bottom of your deck to begin. This is an offshoot of a previous effect of mine "A Sharp Mind" which appeared in Deck Direct (1998).
COVERSION: You cut the deck into two halves. A spectator picks up either and shuffles it. He then selects any card, which is lost back into the packet. This section is replaced on the table. You ask a second spectator to pick up the other half and start dealing it into three piles. At ANY point he can stop the deal - no matter on which pile he dealt the final card.
The top card of each pile is turned over and the three values added together. They might total 20. The first spectator counts down to the 20th card in his half and is surprised to find his chosen card!
word count: 6268 which is equivalent to 25 standard pages of text
