Self-Working or Sleightless in Cards: page 10

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:

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...

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...

A billion-to-1 psychic miracle using a regular deck of cards. A reputation maker, yet easy to perform.

A deck of cards is legitimately riffle shuffled and cut. A spectator selects any two suits, say Spades and Diamonds. These two suits are removed from the pack and given to the spectator. The performer takes the other two suits not chosen. The spectator deals a card face down. The performer places a card face up on this card. This is repeated. Variety is added by the performer dealing a card face down and spectator covers this card with one of his cards face-up. When all cards are dealt...

Challenge repeat lie detector test

This is one of the most amazing self-working tricks you will ever see. It is so ingenious that you will fool yourself when you first perform it. Many magicians say that they can't fool their wives. Rest assured, this effect is so amazing that it will blow your wife away with no feasible solution; not only her, but most of your magic buddies as well. Read every word carefully and then ponder how such a thing is possible. This is done with a borrowed deck under challenge conditions.

Borrow a deck or use your own. Have a spectator shuffle the deck and then...

A spectator secretly counts off any number of cards, selects one and mixes it in the packet, which you now take for the first time. You mix them some more, and then she deals them face down, alternately to you and herself. She continues dealing until she is left holding just one card. She turns it over and - it's her selected one!

May be repeated as often as desired. No sleight of hand, markings, duplicates or guess work. Work it with a borrowed deck. Highly endorsed by Le Paul, Carl Lyle, Frazee, Lu Brent, and others.

Only in this revised and expanded edition do you not only get three...

A self-working principle which determined a person's thoughts . . . Listen to this bewildering effect. A pack of cards is shuffled and a spectator merely thinks of a card. The pack is then dealt once, twice and finally a third time into two piles. Before completing the last dealing the spectator may, if he so wishes, shuffle both halves. Despite all this, when the spectator deals through the pack he finds there are only 51 cards; the thought-of card has vanished! The performer produces the card from his pocket before the spectator names his chosen card. An astounding climax which completely...

This is a cheeky trick to perform when there is a request for "one more". The magician starts by telling a story. The spectator gets involved in the action and turns "matchmaker". This trick is free of any sleights. The spectator invariably cuts to the four queens in an impossible way.

The performer removes the four Kings openly and lays them face down next to each other. The deck is shuffled and a card is dealt face down in front of each King. The performer continues to deal cards into four piles. When the spectator stops him, the performer places the face up King on the pile stopped at...

An entertaining monte effect where the spectator, not the performer, switches the positions of the cards (which may be borrowed).

Here's another mental stunner by Bob Hummer and it's one of the most baffling he's ever released. Briefly, it can be done with any deck, and only three cards are used - any three cards. The performer does not switch the cards around, as in the regular monte. It's the spectator who mixes the position of the cards - while the performer's back is turned. After the cards are mixed as much as desired, the spectator peeks at one card, remembers it, and then makes a...

The method for this miracle is a miracle. So sneaky and ingenious and in many ways better than other gimmicks that have been used for this type of method. The gimmick is something that opens the door to new ideas because this technique is a very powerful weapon.

The title says it all. This effect will fool anyone. Even the most experienced magicians. A revolutionary and incredibly surprising technique. You will be able to find the card the spectator cuts to in a shuffled and borrowed deck, under incredibly impossible conditions. Really easy to do, no sleight of hand.

• No marked cards ...

This self-working effect is Graham's feature in the close-up spot of his cruise ship cabaret act. Plays big. Is easy to do. Comes with gags and Graham's full presentation. And it includes the bonus effect: Movie Star Madness.

The Elvis card is lost somewhere in the deck. A deck of blue cards is shown then cut into two piles. The spectator selects a pile, and then deals the cards face up onto the table - they are told to stop when they are happy. All the other cards are turned over and they are blue-backed. But - there was one red-backed card in the deck ... the spectator dealt the cards...

Uncutted is a three-phase routine with a totally unexpected ending. The spectator can make free choices but many coincidences will happen. A deck cut in half literally. The spectator will always magically find the corresponding card in the other half. A long series of unexpected coincidences. A very fun routine.

• You have all the material at home to construct your deck
• You will use a normal deck
• No force
• No sleight of hand
• Detailed instructions

1st edition 2022, video 27:25.