Self-Working or Sleightless in Cards: page 2

This trick was developed by Allan and Debbie Ackerman. Debbie is Allan's daughter.

A spectator chooses a card and the value of the card decides how many hands are dealt in this game. Let's say the spectator chooses the 3 of Hearts. A random number of cards is taken from the deck and then dealt into 3 hands. Then the performer announces that the spectator should pick one pile. If that pile does not have a 3 on its top the spectator wins, otherwise the magician wins. Of course, the odds are vastly in favor of the spectator. Nevertheless, the top cards on all three piles turn out to be 3s and as...

One spectator receives a prediction for safe keeping. Another spectator receives a portion of the deck, shuffles it thoroughly, deals cards one at a time on the table, and stops whenever he likes. He may stop at the first card, the last card, or anywhere in between. The value of the randomly chosen card is used to count to a card in the remaining portion of the deck. And that card matches the prediction.

runtime: 4min 34s

Jon Racherbaumer steps forward with a very keen Introduction to this Baxter treatment of the classic Three Jacks Deal. “…celebrate and perform Baxter’s latest, evolutionary entry.” It has been around since 1928, but this version guides it well into the 21st century.

Ian Baxter has accomplished something remarkable. He has taken a wonderful classic self-working effect, that has been described and worked on by such luminaries as Walter Gibson, John Scarne, Rufus Steele, Harry Lorayne, Ed Marlo and made it even better, more direct, less dealing procedures while preserving the effect, the sleight-less feature as well as adding an additional climax....

Notes on the 18 Card Trick.

Nick Conticello starts a new series of ebooks on sleightless magic with a new take on the venerable 27 Card Trick. A card merely thought of by a volunteer is revealed at a position the volunteer requests at the start. This method uses just 18 cards and needs no complex formulas or tables, just a few simple rules. Besides the basic effect, Nick adds a presentation that elevates this item from a mere puzzle to a great card effect.

1st edition 2017, 11 pages.

Problem: To divine or locate two cards that are merely thought of by two persons.

This effect has intrigued me for many years. I've published several approaches in the past ("Think Stop" in Automatic Placements, "Talons of the Hawk" and "Talons of the Bat" in Potpourri 2, to cite a few) but these tricks smack openly of mathematics. They lack the directness of selection and revelation I would deem ideal.

Two classic but widely divergent approaches are Ed Marlo's "Double Thought, Single Deck" and Simon Aronson's "Simon-Eyes." Recently, I combined Marlo's basic premise with a concept of Aronson's and a hitherto unpublished key card...

Nick Conticello wraps up his latest series with an effect which will amaze laypeople and fracture magicians!

Working with a shuffled, borrowed deck, the performer looks through it to find a "lucky locator card." After some shuffling a volunteer cuts the pack, counts off ten cards and thinks of one, then buries the counted cards in the deck and cuts it. The performer runs through the deck and takes out the lucky locator. He begins describing the locator to the person who selected the card. Sometimes he's lucky and the locator card is the selection. Sometimes he's not, so he spells out a phrase...

Unfortunately, some of our magical effects have something of a "who cares?" stigma: pick a card, lose the card, find the card . . . and our audience is thinking, who cares? Couples gives spectators a "stake" on the effect, creating audience involvement and interest.

You're performing walk-around at a party and a couple, sitting at a small table, catches your attention. They ask to see some magic. You introduce yourself and they introduce themselves as Jim and Mary. They laugh and enjoy your magic, and are thrilled when you say, "I'm going to do something really special for you. This is a...

Three spectators choose a card each. The cards vanish from the deck to later reappear face-up in a face-down spread. As long as you can count and do a double undercut you can perform this effect. Since there is counting and displaying of cards involved this effect requires a captive and moderately intelligent audience to play well.

runtime 9min 40s

This incredible routine is pretty much a card act all by itself. There are several mind-blowing phases, and it is all done with a normal deck of cards. There are absolutely no gaffs whatsoever. The deck and the card box are the only "props" used, so you can have this on your person at all times, and be completely prepared to blow 'em away!

What began as a simple single-phase effect by Aldo Colombini, David expanded and added to it with inspirations from Aldo, Paul Harris, and Max Maven.

The aspect of this routine that David likes most is the "hands-off" nature of it. The spectator does pretty much all of the work....

An excellent collection of sleight-less card tricks. Some require a confederate but in all cases the author provides alternative methods and presentations to eliminate the need for a confederate. Each effect is taught with an effective presentation.

• I: The Four Burglars
• II: Divination
• III: An Exhibition Of Thought-Reading
• IV: The Disappearing Ace
• V: Another Thought-Reading Trick
• VI: Hypnotic Selection
• VII: The Four Burglars Again
• VIII: Another Method Of Divination
• IX: Bringing Back The Ashes
• X: Thought-Reading Extraordinary
• XI: Telepathy

1st edition 1914, PDF 32 pages

This is a great little booklet where U.F. Grant teaches three non-sleight replacement methods for

• Pass
• Force
• Palm
• Switch

1st edition 1943, 1st digital edition 2017, 4 pages.

Poker Deals includes two self-working card effects, ideally suited to performing for spectators who are familiar with the rules of poker. Both effects utilize the StayCard Principle and were first published in OCD and Other Effects: The StayCard Principle.

Ten Card Poker Deal Variation

A procedural variation on Arthur Buckley's celebrated Ten Card Poker Deal. The magician and a spectator are each dealt five cards (either person can deal). The spectator decides whether to keep his cards, or whether the cards should be mixed by dealing again. No matter how many times the dealing is repeated before the cards are examined, the magician's hand wins....

An automatic routine in six phases with many surprises. Absolutely no skill required!

A delightful sequence of clever-looking card magic performed without skill or sleights of any kind. Not one trick but a whole series of tricks blending one into the other and all depending upon one clever set-up. Work it at once! You have only to learn the routine to be able to present it. The working is completely automatic. You'll be amazed yourself as you do it. At the uncanny way everything has been thought so that the performance of one trick leaves you all ready to perform the next.

A pack of cards...

A self-working and examinable ACAAN effect with two decks.

EFFECT: The magician thoroughly shuffles a deck of cards. Then, the spectator cuts the deck to split it into two piles. Only now is he asked to create a random number in his mind. After a very quick and simple procedure, he writes his number down on a Post-it note - let's say, "13". He sticks it onto the card he cut to - let's say, the King of Diamonds. From a second deck - on the table from the start - he deals the cards one by one. Amazingly, the 13th card is the King of Diamonds!

Self-working. No gimmick. No extra card. Both...

The magician can't find the spectator's card but his prediction can.

In short:

The spectator cuts to a card, removes it from the deck and remembers it. Then, the magician shuffles the deck and divides it into two halves. The spectator shuffles both parts, loses his selection between them, and shuffles even more. At the end, the magician runs through the deck and removes a card, but it is not the spectator's. Fortunately, the magician has an "emergency out", a message on a piece of paper inside a red envelope, in full view from the start. The spectator reads it out loud:

A lost Michael Skinner mystery, updated by Steve Pellegrino. Included is Michael Skinner's original handling and Steve Pellegrino's additions. Your Last Card is a triple revelation with two different predictions. You can reset it during performance and no sleight-of-hand is required.

You ask a spectator to cut off a small packet of cards, less than half of the deck. You turn away as they do this, so you don't know how much they cut, even an approximate amount. They pocket their cards. You also cut off a small packet of cards for yourself.

Before the presentation with the cards begins, you write a...

A revelation of a freely selected card.

EFFECT: The performer places an envelope containing a prediction on the table. He shows a deck of cards, and he begins to deal cards onto the table. A spectator says 'stop' at any moment he likes. The stopped-at card is placed aside and kept by the spectator who chose it. Several cards before and after the selection are clearly shown to be all different, while the performer states that the spectator could have stopped him on any of them. The spectator reveals the chosen card, for example, the King of Spades, and the prediction is seen to be a Jumbo...

EFFECT: The performer shows five playing cards that are cut in half width-wise, making a total of ten half cards. He shows that there is a matching card half within the small packet of cards. The performer invites two spectators to help. We’ll refer to as Spectator A and Spectator B. He gives the packet to Spectator A and has him shuffle the cards thoroughly so no one knows the order of the cards.

The performer turns his back and says to Spectator A, “While my back is turned, please deal to the other person; face down, as many or as few cards as you wish. What cards you get is unimportant....

Based on a Bob Hummer and Karl Fulves principle. A spectator is handed seven playing-cards. He shuffles them, then places one of them aside face-down without looking at it. Now squares of cardboard are shown with cut-out windows. Spectator follows the magician's instructions and, at the end, looking through the cut-out windows in the cards, an index of a card appears. The chosen card is turned over and has been correctly revealed.

You will have to make up the squares of cardboard for this. The trick itself is self-working, the real work having been put into the evolution of the effect, but they are useful for...

A very easy to do prediction effect with a surprising ending.

The performer introduces ten cards and deals them into a face-down packet to prove it. He hands the packet to a spectator and asks him to think of any number between one and ten. The cards are then cut by the spectator and shuffled. Then they are laid out in a face-down line. The performer asks the spectator to, for the first time, announce the number he thought of, then counts along the line to that number and pushes out the card lying at that position. (Note that this is a real count that can be done from the spectator - absolutely...

An entertaining mental feat with a borrowed deck of cards.

From the brilliant mind of Bob Hummer comes a divination mystery that seems impossible, yet you do it every time. The performer takes the spectator on an adventure with a borrowed deck and a dead person's age (which is furnished by anyone in the room). In some uncanny manner, the "Whispering Spirit" aids the performer in solving the mystery. The performer does not need to touch the deck while they are in the spectator's hands.

There are no setups, stacks or cyclical rotations. The cards may be borrowed. The cards are not marked....

Find any card a spectator takes from a borrowed and shuffled pack.

EFFECT: The magician tells his audience he has trained his mind to work like a computer. To demonstrate its computer-like capabilities, he asks a spectator to shuffle a pack of cards then, without looking at it, remove one card and place it in his pocket. Taking back the pack, the performer runs through it quickly, then goes through it again even more quickly and pulls out one card which he places face down on the table. The spectator removes his card from his pocket and places it face-up alongside the magician's card, then...

Based on an idea by Nick Trost. You will be thrilled with the splendid effect which you achieve in such an easy manner.

You show a packet of five jumbo cards cut in half. Two spectators shuffle the cards and split the packet taking some cards each. For example, one spectator has 4 cards and one has six. You place an envelope on the table and then show the cards to each spectator in turn. They look and remember the one half-card (that corresponds to the number of cards they each had in hand). Then you ask them to remove from the packet the half-card they have seen. Incredibly they match! Not...

Hard to believe that eighty years have passed since the Stewart James card classic Further Than That was first published in Annemann's magazine, The Jinx. Card workers everywhere latched on to this intriguing, self-working mystery; the passing years have not dimmed its popularity one iota.

Just recently, Jon Racherbaumer released a very worthwhile compilation, Further More. Essential reading and yes, currently available through lybrary.com.

And now on offer, Further Than Expected from Australian card man and author Ian Baxter. This is a brand new, reconstructed approach that freely alters the proceedings while still maintaining the essential,...