Stacks in Cards

Two mentalism card routines.

Cut It Out

The spectator is asked to cut a regular packet of cards and to complete the cut by placing the bottom half on top. The performer ribbon spreads the cards face-down onto the table, inviting the spectator to slide any card from within the spread. The selection is at this stage kept face-down with its identity remaining unknown.

The packet is once again gathered up before the spectator is asked to again cut the deck into two piles. The position cut to is marked by placing the lower half of the deck onto the upper at a right angle. The selected card...

You will learn how to prepare the Si Stebbins stack with two faro shuffles.

runtime: 2min 37s

This is a stack that retains the simplicity of a Si Stebbins or Eight Kings stack, but randomizes colours and suits.

Why Another Stacked Deck?

The two most popular stacked decks are Si Stebbins and Eight Kings. Why should this be so? Because both systems are easy to do, under fire, under pressure and any other interruptions you find when performing. There are other systems out there but they are more complex and more demanding, unless you are using them all the time.

But the Si Stebbins and the Eight Kings have one glaring fault (if fault you could call it) and that is the alternating...

This work is something special, something completely unique. It is the product of a several decades long love affair of Benedykt Krajdener and the pasteboards. If you are truly in love you will sometimes do things that for an outsider appear as irrational, unbelievable, or outright insane. I am sure Benedykt is not insane, but finding and memorizing about 2700 words for every possible pair of cards from a deck of 52 might be considered irrational or perhaps unbelievable. Yes, love can do that to a grown man.

But before you assume this book is simply a list of those 2700 words, or that you...

Frac Stack is a groundbreaking tetradistic stack, with fractal and mirror properties that make it easy to learn and hard to forget. Imagine amazing your audience with a regular deck of cards that appears well-mixed, while they never suspect the unbelievable truth. You know the sequence of the cards forwards and backwards. You know the position of every card from the top of the deck, and even the position of every card from the face. You can quickly determine the sum of the values of any group of cards. On top of all this, imagine being able to secretly rearrange the cards mid-performance so...

Easy miracles using a new stack of cards.

This eBook collects a series of no less than seven tricks that are very simple to perform in front of one's audience, but all very impressive. All this is only possible thanks to a particular pre-arrangement of the pack of cards, derived from Si Stebbins but which, unlike it, will not be recognizable even to the majority of magicians, appearing on first examination to be entirely similar to a real shuffled deck. I have called this pre-order: VR Stack Pro and I will describe it extensively on the following pages.

Below you will find the effects...

This is a new self-working card trick: the viewer will choose two cards, to represent the law and by means of which he will get two more cards, lost in the deck, which he will then divide into four bundles. Over the course of two separate stages, the spectator himself will insert the "sheriffs" within the deck, as arbitrarily as possible. The decks will be shuffled, cut and completed but, despite a thousand adversities, the two "sheriff" cards will succeed in tracking down and capturing the two "outlaws," generated by the combination of the first two cards, chosen at random.

The legend...

Bracelet sequences and algorithmic stacks.

Mathematical Stacks contains a collection of various stacks made with 52 standard playing cards. Although some routines and presentations are mentioned, the book is not predominately about either routines or presentations. The very few presentations listed in this book are generally the bare minimum to demonstrate an effect.

The book contains stacks with bracelet sequences and built-in routines. The book includes stacks with binary bracelet sequences, e.g. a red-black suit bracelet sequence, where six consecutive cards identify the cards. Some...

Most cyclical stacks are based on either mathematical progressions (Si Stebbins) or nonsense rhymes ("Eight Kings" and John Mulholland''s "Hungry Jackass.") While memorized stacks, such as the Nikola explained in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, allow for the fastest determination of a cards position in the pack, performers who don''t use the set-up generally seem to avoid the memory route. The mathematical systems, which serve as substitutes for memory, can sometimes be difficult in performance situations. Furthermore, many of the mathematical formulas only allow you to determine the position of a given card, and not the card...

A new method to quickly and secretly arrange cards from a small pack all the way to a full deck. No math needed unless you want to understand why it works.

Within magic, no mind approaches Bob Farmer's. Outside magic, Machiavelli came close. The evidence is presented in "The Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox." - Stephen Minch

Bob Farmer's Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox is both a great trick and a genuinely new method for secretly arranging cards quickly, accurately, and right in front of the spectators' noses. - Matthew Field

About what you'd expect from the guy who invented that stupid little hand trick. -...

Boris is probably best known for his 'Boris Wild Marked Deck', which he describes here in detail. (For the right material to prepare your Boris Wild Marked Deck please see here.) He also teaches his version of a memorized deck, which you can learn in 6 minutes, because there is a system, a formula if you will, to it. And particularly the combination of his marked deck and his memorized deck allow you to fulfill your Wild-est effects.

If that is not enough then you will also learn the Kiss Count. The Kiss Count is a new move in cardmagic. Thanks to it, you will be able to pretend you have four...

You will learn stacks for 2 - 10 players which allow you to do the following:

Presentation: Bring out the card case and remove the cards. Briefly show the cards and hand the deck to one of the players. Have them cut the deck. And cut again. State that you think he (or she) is lucky and let them deal. He deals and he wins! They have no explanation. He cut the cards and dealt and you did not touch the deck after he cut the cards.

1st edition 2019, 16 pages.

The Boston Stack: Chris' signature stacked deck and routine that requires almost no memorization and is diabolically simple.

The Duchess: this memorized deck is so easy to remember you'll want to perform it every chance you get! Plus, it's fun.

The Seesaw Collection: one final option in Chris' memorized deck booklet. This stack, also requires almost no memorization and uses a back and forth procedure that you can't get wrong!

[Please note that these stacks are not full deck stacks. You are stacking about half the deck. Technically they are algorithmic stacks. This means you will have to do some simple math to derive the next card.]

1st edition 2013, 21 pages...

Those who have used it agree that it's one of the easiest and potent stacks in the world of stacked decks. A work of over 10 years that finally is seeing light in this ebook.

New properties and deep study about the DaOrtiz stack. Divination, coincidences, exhibitions of skill… all in 134 pages complete with photographs.

But what properties comprise the DaOrtiz stack? In addition to the properties of all stacks, like how to find and control cards, this stack supports the abilities to:

• Get to stack from a new deck
• Show it to the spectators
• Ability to move to red-black alternating...

Deck switching: The act of secretly switching one deck for another during play.

The Cold Deck is a collection of deck-switching techniques by Daniel Madison. The ebook teaches six techniques for secretly and invisibly switching the deck in play in thorough detail. It also includes Slaine, a device that holds or feeds the cold deck to the cheat without suspicion.

The following techniques are included in this ebook:

• Patch
• Slaine
• Veil
• Grit
• Ott
• Heat

1st edition 2011, 16 pages.

The problem with all existing memorized stack systems is that they use memorization systems not specifically designed for a memorized stack. Most memory systems are designed for the retention of LOTS of information for a relatively SHORT amount of time. When Dominic O'Brien memorizes 54 decks of cards (more than 2800 cards) with a particular journey system then he retains that information for a couple of hours max. After that he has forgotten the sequence. He has to, because around the corner waits another memory challenge where he has to memorize many other things. However, the magician ideally wants to remember...

Imagine a deck that secretly tells you both the identity of a thought-of card and that card's numeric location, either in that deck or in another deck. Think of all the memorized deck applications this would simplify.

No memory work.

No tricky calculations to arrive at the card’s location.

Think of the myriad mentalism applications. A spectator peeks at any card in the deck and you instantly know what the card is and at what number it resides from the top or bottom of that deck or another deck. What's more, you obviously never see the back of the peeked card, which eliminates the...

Effect: Two people each select a card. The performer then shuffles the deck by giving it a riffle shuffle. The spectators take the deck and returned the cards with the deck in their own hands in such a manner that there can be no suspicion of trickery. The two cards are not forced.

The performer now spreads the deck face up on the table so all the faces are in full view. The first card is found by contact mindreading (apparently). The first spectator holds the performer's wrist while he moves his fingers over the face up cards. Suddenly, the performer's finger drops down on a card and it...

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.

The Si Stebbins Pro Stack is highly interesting for any card stack enthusiast. Dr. Solka has taken the venerable Si Stebbins Stack and removed an inherent weakness, the rigid alternation of suit colors and strict suit rotation. The way he has done this is ingenious and will fly by everybody - magicians included. The single rule to remember is so simple that anybody can do it effortlessly. The seemingly random sequence of colors and suits is such that the deck can be spread face up without risk of detection from lay people as well as magicians.

The Card to Position relationship is explained...

The venerable Sequeira stack from 1612 has been refurbished using the present day shadow concept. The Shadow Sequeira Stack allows to determine preceding and succeeding card as well as smooth translation from card to position and vice versa. The description of this universal stack is an exclusive extract from the author’s book In the Shadow Realm of Playing Cards.

version 2.02, 16 pages.

An easy-to-calculate version of the Si Stebbins stack.

The name 'Snibbets' (Stebbins reversed) was coined by Rusduck. It denotes a reversed Si Stebbins stack where instead of adding 3 to get to the next card's value one substracts 3. The first to publish a negative step version was Ernest Hammond in The Magic of Tomorrow. While this may seem a rather inconsequential change, it has some advantages over the classic Si Stebbins stack. In this ebook, Dr. Solka takes you through the details of this lesser-known version of Si Stebbins.

1st edition 2022, PDF 19 pages.

Professionals all over the world understand the devastating impact that a memorized deck can have on their audiences. It's a tool with unlimited potential - it allows for a myriad of immaculately clean card locations, revelations, and more. But, until now, it's been a difficult tool to master.

Requiem - Two Innovative Approaches to the 'Memorized' Deck puts the incredible world of mem-deck work within anyone's reach.

Because no two minds work alike this ebook contains two very different stacks that allow you to know the position of any card and the card at any position in what passes as...

"The only people who speak of the difficulties of the memorising a deck of cards are those who've never seriously tried to learn one." - Simon Aronson

What is S.E.M.P.E.R.? (Special Esp Memory Powers Enhanced Radically)

A special trick with a flexible method that offers wide-ranging presentational possibilities. It uses an ordinary deck of 52 poker cards and the trick will be deceptive even for many illusionists, but above all its impact on the audience is devastating.

Two spectators are asked to take a card and put them unseen in their pockets. The magician explains that, under these conditions, it is obviously extremely difficult to be able to identify the cards. Nevertheless, and in order to demonstrate to the public the uncommon...

The principle facilitates in determining the position and identity of the matching of cards in two decks, which have been randomized by the cutting of each deck. The principle works in conjunction with a memorized stack. A presentation is given where you don't have to commit a stack to memory.

The Gerats Principle enables you to perform the following effect:

Two decks are on the table. After two spectators have each cut one of the decks to their heart's content, the magician is able, without handling the cards, to tell whether there will be a matching of cards (ie: 2♥/2♥)) at a certain...

Array is Fraser's take on the algorithmic stack. He has been working on this problem 'on and off' for the past six or seven years and was only recently able to find the ideal solution he was looking for. His idea was to create a stack that was not only incredibly easy to learn but could also be applied effortlessly, in performance. He imagined a system that could be learned simply by reading through the rules once.

Fraser is pleased to say, all of the pieces of the jigsaw finally fell into place to allow him to create what he considers a close-to-perfect arrangement for this type of method....

An apparent demonstration of total card mastery, this series of card effects entertains and baffles a lay audience. The magician names missing cards by glancing at a riffling pack, listens to the riffling cards to count packets or locate any card, and detects truth from lies by spelling with the cards.

1st edition 1988, 5 pages; PDF 6 pages.

In 1979, Simon Aronson gave the world of magic an incredible tool - A Stack To Remember - which has come to be known as the "Aronson stack," a seemingly random arrangement of cards that has amazing miracle properties built into it.

Many magicians have avoided adding memorized deck work to their repertoires because of the daunting task of committing a stacked deck to memory. Struggling to grasp the associations of the cards and their locations within the stack, most quit after a few hours or days. I was the same way... until a Harry Anderson manuscript got me to thinking about how to make...

Mnemonica for Everybody is a streamlined, graphical method for easily and quickly learning the Tamariz stack.

It's the same Peg Memory System (PMS) I developed that I used to learn the Aronson Stack in an hour while driving. BTW, this same technique works great for every memorized stack out there including the Aronson Stack, The Six-Hour Memorized Deck by Martin Joyal, the Nikola stack and others.

Even though there are no actual tricks taught in this manuscript, it does contain links to several free memorized deck tricks and other resources (including a free e-book from Simon Aronson).

Please refer to the writings...

THE BIGGEST SNAG IN "EIGHT KINGS" OR "SI STEBBINS" EFFECTIVELY REMOVED.

Are you afraid of being caught when using a stacked deck of cards? Then you must know George Blake's system! No more fear of spreading the deck face up, if you know it.

From the introduction:

Easy to learn, hard to detect. A booklet of routines that use the Si Stebbins stack.

This is an early publication by Hugh Johnston predating his larger Modern Card Miracles by several years. Includes research on its likely publication date by Chris Wasshuber.

• The Secret
• Rapid Counting
• Weighing the Cards
• To Tell the Center Card of Pack
• To Locate Any Card Called For
• To Have the Joker Tell You What Card is Drawn
• To Tell the Number and Suit Of As Many Cards As Are Drawn
• To Tell Card That Is Drawn While Blindfolded
• To Cut the Cards in Three Heaps and Tell Bottom Card of Each Heap
• Reading the Cards
• To Have Pack Cut and Name Bottom...

A complete card-act with patter.

This ebook describes moves and routines for a stacked deck. The authors are using the Si Stebbins stack, but most of what is taught applies to other stacks, memorized or algorithmic. At the very end a simply two person code is taught.

Dornfield, President of the Chicago Society of Magicians writes in The Sphinx magazine, November 1919 page 209:

Jack Yates was a very clever and innovative magician who has somehow stayed below the radar and is completely unknown - undeservedly so - to many particularly in the US. Jack's Pack is a clever stacking method for finding any card in a deck by way of using numbers, names, words, etc.

Edited and with additional notes by Ken de Courcy.

1st edition 1978, 8 pages; 1st digital edition 2017, PDF 10 pages.

Best of the Best is an effect that makes most of the potential of the pre-ordered deck. But don't worry because to perform it you will not need memory work and no complicated mathematical operations. Everything is super impossible but really simple to do. Three divinations plus a prediction, a surprising climax. The method behind this effect is truly amazing and fascinating.

• A normal deck
• No memory work
• No complicated mathematical operations
• No gimmick

1st edition 2022, video 17:34.

The deck is shuffled by the performer and then cut several times by the spectator. After, the spectator cuts the deck into four packets totally at random. No force. The magician will be able to divine not only the cards above but also the cards at the bottom of each packet. All this with a normal deck of cards. No marked cards. Instant reset.

1st edition 2022, video 18:54

The Nikola Card System is more advanced than either the Si Stebbins or "Eight Kings" card systems. Even upon close examination pre-arrangement seems impossible with this system.

• Section 1: Argument
• Section 2: Curriculum
• Section 3: Utility
  • 1. "Stop"
  • 2. Cards By Weight
  • 3. Weighing Chosen Cards
  • 4. The Sense Of Touch
  • 5. Human Magnetism
  • 6. Locating
  • 7. Spelling
  • 8. To Spell Any Card Called For
  • 9. Thought Anticipated
  • 10. Unconscious Thought Transmission
  • 11. Wizard's Whist
  • 12. All Trumps
  • 13. The Spelling Bee,
  • 14. The Game Of Poker, And
  • 15. The Game Of "Nap"
  • 16. To Name The Position...

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...

You, a spectator, a deck of cards, a miracle!

A spectator shuffles a deck of cards, you instruct them to hold the cards face up, under the table, so that only they can see them. Despite these test conditions, you apparently display a genuine feat of 'remote viewing' by attempting to name each card in turn, as if you are somehow able to 'see through the table'. With an accuracy way beyond the odds you are able to prove to your audience that they are witnessing a real demonstration of 'psychic' ability and what you claim to be true, must be possible.

This effect will completely 'blow away'...

The "ultimate" fishing stack!

Using an ungimmicked deck of cards you can have a participant select, think, deal down to or look at one or two cards in the deck. You instantly start to describe aspects of the cards until you reveal both.

I truly believe this to be the ultimate fishing deck ever devised using a normal deck. No markings, no rough and smooth, no short cards, no misprints. Use a 100% normal deck.

Comes with two routines to get you started and some tips on how to present fishing questions.

1st edition 2023, PDF 7 pages.

If you are a fan of magic involving memorized decks or algorithmic stacks, you may wish to check out the following manuscript, called The Bart Harding Secret. As many of you may know, Darwin Ortiz published a method of transforming a deck from New Deck Order (NDO) into Si Stebbins order, which he called the The Si Stebbins Secret. Similarly, the Bart Harding Secret describes how to transform a deck from NDO to the Bart Harding Stack (BHS). Although the Si Stebbins stack is highly versatile, one drawback is that it does not look very random, and so many magicians will not use it for effects in which the...

Resolving the alternating color issue of the Si Stebbins stack

You can now use the easy Si Stebbins stack without guilt. The alternating color issue has been resolved. Use it with confidence. Continue to perform every effect you already perform with the Si Stebbins stack, with the alternating black/red color issue resolved.

Included in this updated PDF Alexandre's closely guarded presentation/effect using this stack (or any stack for that matter!) "MENTAL STEBBIN - The Predictive Physiological Anticipation Effect".

This was one of my first offerings to the Magic and Mentalism community...

A minimalist storytelling mentalism card routine.

"This is a truly thoughtful and beautiful presentation - the sort of thing that really warms my heart. The presentation here is the thing. And what's really nice about it, is that it is easily adaptable to other effects if one so desires. I love it!" - Sudo Nimh

A special competition was underway at a famous monastery and all the monks were quite eager to do well. The Master had pointed out a very special tree that lived in the woods surrounding the monastery grounds and the monks had been asked to write a story about this tree. The winner...