Cards: page 104

Available again after a long absence is this fine work by J. Stewart Smith, presenting eleven more of his mystifying card effects, each of which is accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. This is the book that had card workers talking all over the country. It had to be good to receive praise from such internationally known close-up workers. See below for a few brief quotes from some of the very best.

PARTIAL CONTENTS:

• Ascending Treys
• Pop Over Treys
• The Four Aces
• The Four Queens
• Follow The Leader
• Sevens and Jacks
• The Inseparable Sevens
• Peek-A-Boo Discovery
• Horse...

Learn some of the most deceptive magic ever created, by a modest man, Elmer Biddle ... 5 impromptu effects plus a bonus trick!

Included with this e-book are 3 videos and 10 pictures. This e-book is a deep dive into the famous "Biddle Move", which is composed of The Biddle Steal and the much less known, The Biddle Switch - and all 5 tricks are impromptu. The videos teach the proper way to perform both Biddle Moves with in-depth instruction - plus the 4 as 5 Count.

Bonus effect: A 6th trick taught here is topological and can be used as a fun ESP effect or a straight-up prediction. A written...

Out of Control is a surprising, impossible location effect. The magician never touches the deck or even looks at it because the spectator will do everything under the table including two riffle shuffles and several cuts. Yet despite these stringent premises, the magician will be able to find the spectator's card face down in the spread of the deck. Great reactions especially from fellow magicians.

1st edition 2022, video 13:51

Jam Session is a mentalism effect that can be achieved (in every situation and even on the phone, with only the audio connection) with playing cards, with ESP cards, or with tickets: this last version also allows you to develop the final revelation in cold-reading.

The secret used in this routine is a combination of unique methods, blended for an amazing finish. It can be performed remotely, with cards borrowed from the spectator, or with tickets written "on the spot"; the mentalist does not need to see the cards in any way. While using various methods, it is easy to memorize, as it is...

Some aficionados consider Dai Vernon's "Out of Sight-Out of Mind" from More Inner Secrets of Card Magic the best mindreading trick with an ordinary deck of cards. They may be right. Since the spectator does not remove a card from the deck but only thinks of a card, it makes a terrific mindreading trick. Erdnase explores the principle in "A Mindreading Trick" in Expert at the Card Table. Vernon used the principle to construct his trick.

Gerald keeps the exact effect of Vernon's original trick. In "Only in Your Mind", he uses adaptations of the Overhand Lift Shuffle and constructs a completely different handling of the trick. In keeping with the...

From the introduction:

From the foreword by Ken de Courcy:

1st edition ~1947, PDF 6 pages.

Do as I Do under impossible conditions.

An impossible coincidence, a powerful mental effect. Two regular and shuffled decks. Really simple and fun to do. The spectator takes any card from one deck and the magician does the same from the other deck. The amazing thing is that the magician and the spectator surprisingly took the same card. A variation "Do as I do" with an interesting and fascinating technique.

• Two normal decks
• No gimmick; no double-sided card
• No sticky stuff; no wax; no rough and smooth; no tape or double-sided tape

1st edition 2022, video 17:55.

Imagine that a spectator freely shuffles a deck of cards, then randomly picks any 4 cards and from them freely decides which one to choose. The assistant delivers into the right hand of the medium, whose back was turned the whole time, the three remaining cards, and she, studying them for a few moments, will be able to guess the chosen card. Not only that but, repeating the experiment with a second spectator, she will guess the chosen card after simply having the three discarded cards announced by her assistant.

This is an original idea, developed by me, to enable the magician's assistant...

More than the thirteen major Marlo items Ed contributed to New Tops Magazine in 1981 - not to mention new sleights, finesses, and subtleties - all these items have been largely unavailable since their publication. Wesley James has added another year of material toward fulfilling Ed Marlo's expressed wishes, keeping his material available "for the guys."

As with Wesley's previous release of M.I.N.T. III, these long-unavailable Marlo items could have been all Wesley compiled. Still, this volume would have been an important contribution to the literature of card magic. As tribute to Ed, Wesley wanted this volume to offer more....

Ian Baxter here, introducing something new from me in the 'Card Stabbing' arena. Nicely Stabbed! offers not one but two approaches to this evergreen card mystery. But rather than have me rattle on about this, I'll ask reviewer and fellow Australian David Jones to offer his opinion.

When Ian Baxter told me that his next manuscript involved the concept of forcing an unknown card, I was intrigued, to say the least. What resulted from this offbeat thought was a very clever, streamlined and almost sleight-free method for a known classic. A spectator stabs a card anywhere into the deck and ends...

The Mark Twain stack is a Si Stebbins stack with a four-apart sequence in SHoCkeD order. It was first published in the February 1935 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions magazine. This is a reproduction of this article.

The Mark Twain stack, also called the Riverboat stack (see for example Magic Card System), due to the abundant gambling on Mississippi riverboats, gets its name from the practice on these riverboats to frequently having to measure the water depth. If it was two marks, pronounced 'mark twain', it was ok.

1st edition 1935; PDF 4 pages.

This is the first known publication of the Si Stebbins stack and several tricks that go along with it. It is a reproduction from the Sunday 18th December 1898 issue of the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper.

1st edition, 1898; PDF 5 pages.

The original Prophecy Move in Bill Simon's book Effective Card Magic has been a favorite with magicians since its publication. The spectator places a business card or playing card between two cards at a random position somewhere in the middle of the deck. The move forces the top and bottom cards of the deck. A myriad of variations and tricks with the sleight have surfaced through the years.

The author first describes his version of the move. This in-the-hands handling accomplishes the move using natural movements in spreading the cards. Neither hand turns over when performing the sleight as in the original version. Gerald...

Walker's Card Mysteries is a book of highly useful and original card conjuring. The forty odd items deal with systems, sleights and subtleties, while each experiment is worked out in the most minute detail. Accurate illustrations enhance the value of the publication.

From the Preface:

J. Stewart Smith presents more of his mystifying card effects, accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. The author was something of an enigma, eschewing public performances in favor of fooling magicians and mentalists at magic conventions. After a process of continual refinements from demonstrating his effects under the critical eyes of magicians, he would assemble a small number of his latest creations and issue them in small, limited-edition booklets. To say that his books are hard to come by is a gross understatement. This is a shame since the magic is priceless.

Smith was...

The Effect of the Card in the Orange ranks with that of the Bank-Note in Lemon, or the Card in the Egg effect, but has one main advantage over the other two and that is that it is easier to do. Although the impact on the audience is precisely the same, the trick can be performed under any conditions and is literally worry-free. The Card in the Orange is one of those effects that, in the right hands, can be a reputation-maker. The whole effect depends entirely upon showmanship and presentation.

• Edwin's Routine
• What You Require
• Another Method
• Knife Force
• Simplicity Force
• The Glide ...

As you can understand from the title this is an impossible divination. The method is becoming more and more diabolical.

The effect is a classic: the spectator chooses a card and the magician finds it. Here, however, the conditions are strict for the magician. There is seemingly no way the magician could find the card. The deck is shuffled while the performer looks away. Despite this, he will be able to find the chosen card face down. All this with a normal, borrowed, totally impromptu deck.

1st edition 2022, video 12:03

Please note that this is deckless. And that does not mean propless. Two double blank business cards are used in this effect, with something written/printed on them of course, as you will get to know in this manuscript. This ACAAN is notoriously unknown as DAD ACAAN. And this is completely different than the earlier Deckless ACAAN.

3 different participants freely and randomly choose a card value, a number, and a suit. All are fair choices...or so it seems. And you read all 3 minds with a uniquely stunning impact. You can even perform this to a single participant or even in a virtual show or a video call....

Sensitive Fingers is a unique routine that will showcase your skill as a mentalist or skilled card handler. But, of course, the presentation you choose is up to you.

Effect: You remove a small envelope and set it aside. You shuffle a deck of cards and have a spectator cut off a small packet of cards, less than half of the deck. They place the card they cut to in a card box or their shirt pocket without you seeing it.

You take the packet of cards from the spectator and again, without looking, feel the face of the card. You can tell the spectator the color of the card. You repeat this...

The magician attempts to find the spectator chosen card under impossible conditions. In the end, he also manages to find the four aces. Everything is done with a normal deck of cards. Requires minimal sleight-of-hand.

1st edition 2022, video 12:52

You will find here card tricks, cheating exposes, card games, and gambling stories.

A later expanded version of this book was published under the title Gamblers' Tricks With Cards Exposed and Explained.

• Chapter I
  • Invention Of Cards
  • Mysterious Trick Of Thirty Six Cards; Telling The Card You Look At Without Seeing The Pack.
  • To Tell A Card Thought Of
  • Three Jacks As Thieves, Caught By A King As A Policeman
  • To Burn A Card And Fin'd It In A Watch
  • How To Shift Cards
  • The Four Associates
  • To Make A Card Jump Out Of The Pack
  • How To Change Cards To Pictures
• Chapter II
  • All Fours
  • Deceptions Used In The Game Of All Fours
  • How To...

A version of a strike-second deal that the author calls the "shutter" method, referring to the shutter of a camera.

This version could be easier for some to perform than a classic strike-second because the coordination of the thumbs is built into the method itself. While the author claims that his method is practically self-working, there is some amount of practice necessary to acquire the knack. Still, his discovery has earned the praise of top-flight card experts, who have called it perfect in action and imperceptible to the keenest observer.

The second deal is an indispensable sleight...

There are so many possibilities with a stacked deck, or better yet, "Impossibilities." That's because these decks look regular but what you can do with them quite casually can appear incredible. It's an old stack that's still worth its salt is, "The Si Stebbins Stack." It's sorta the granddaddy of this kind of amazing card magic. And it has a mathematical build to it that allows for a variety of other approaches as to magically finding a selected card and or knowing where or what a card is as to its position. This effect is a refreshing and fun way I found to make a bit more magic happen...