Cards in Magic & Mentalism

After the deck is shuffled, twelve cards (one for each month of the year) are shown to the spectator and he thinks of the one corresponding to his birth month.

The twelve cards are isolated in folded papers to prevent any sleight of hand. The spectator names his card and commands it to return to the deck. The folded papers are opened and there are only eleven cards and when shown the thought-of card is not among them. The deck is spread and the thought-of card is found face up back in the deck.

Practically self-working. Easy and fast reset. Can be a different card each time.

1st...

"Thomas Baxter would be proud." - Brian Draven

"If you're a fan of the open prediction plot as I am, this is worth checking out. It's a very original approach, which combines existing methods in a unique and clever way." - Michael Gustav

"A very nice idea. I can see myself using this. Super easy to perform too." - Kevin Schneider

In this e-book, I want to share with you my own solution for the classic open prediction plot. The one major advantage of this version is that there is proper shuffling by the spectator just before the final deal - and the magician never touches the deck...

This is without a doubt the most powerful effect in my repertoire. The reactions it consistently generates from audiences are nothing short of astounding, and what makes it even more remarkable is it's easy to do. The psychological principles throughout this effect are truly fascinating - from the way it plays with expectations to how it builds and releases tension. Each of these psychological elements has been carefully crafted to create maximum impact, and these same principles can be effectively applied to enhance numerous other effects in your performances.

Effect: In this compelling...

You show four cards from the back. They all have blue backs. When you shake them, one turns up face. It is the king of diamonds. When you show the cards again, they now all have red backs. Another shake and another king turns face up. But now they all have green backs. You then display all four kings from the face. The climax is that all four kings link into one ribbon.

1st edition 2024, video 6:12.

My Favorite Card Magic explains tricks with straight-forward plots, classic methods and direct handlings. Gerald prefers uncomplicated tricks and routines which can be performed under the most demanding conditions. The tricks do require practice and skillful handling. But you'll not find "knuckle busting" sleights or complex procedures.

Gerald divides the PDF into two sections. Part One is for "in-the-hands" tricks. These routines work well for strolling situations or any time you have no tabletop available. At times, it becomes awkward or not possible for the spectators to take or sign...

"This is one of the most important card magic manuscripts published in the last 25 years. The 'principle' is truly a lost gem and I'm shocked that it's completely out of use today. As the decades passed, it appears magicians forgot about it. Do not pass this up. If you are a serious student of card magic, this principle is something you should know about. Study this manuscript, learn the principle, and, most importantly, learn the history surrounding it.

I've been studying card magic for over 20 years and I never heard of this principle until the Unnamed Magician brought it to my attention....

The contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.

• Proem
• A Double Take on "Double Trouble"
• Double Trouble, Marlo Miracle No. 2 / Edward Marlo
• Lalapaloopa / Deane Moore
• Never Touch the Pack! / Gerald L. Kaufman
• The Loop and I
• Joseph K. Schmidt's Letter to Marlo
• Treble Trouble / Roy Walton
• Redouble Trouble / Jon Racherbaumer
• Andrus False Slop Shuffle

1st edition 2014, PDF 25 pages.

A true masterpiece of precision and impossibility: Mr. Diseau ACAAN. If you're looking for an effect that combines the charm of Card at Any Number with a fully interactive experience for your audience, this routine is perfect for you.

Imagine this: a spectator freely cuts a deck and selects two cards, leaving them face down on the table without looking. Next, they choose a card from several packets, memorize it, and reassemble the deck. Only then are the initial two cards revealed, their values added together, and the resulting number used to count down in the deck. The card found at that...

Take your audience on a surprising magical journey with Sandwich Reverse. Imagine starting with a classic in card magic: the two Jokers capture a card chosen by the spectator in a simple and straightforward effect. But just when the audience thinks they know what's going to happen, you completely flip their expectations. In the end, it's the chosen cards that capture the Joker, leaving everyone speechless.

This routine combines the beauty of simplicity with an unexpected twist that will delight both beginners and experienced card magicians. Easy to learn, highly impactful, and incredibly...

A twisting the aces type of effect. You show four cards from the back and state that they are the four aces. The aces, one by one, magically turn around showing their faces. Then they all change to the ace of clubs. And then they change their backs.

1st edition 2024, video 4:47.

The Think Ace effect is a hybrid, reduced to a packet trick. It was inspired by an effect described to Marlo by Bill Simon in 1955.

• Introduction
• Beginnings
  • Touch Turn
  • Named Reverse
  • Think Ace
  • Gaffed Think Ace
• Tributaries
  • Swindle Think Ace
  • Technicolor Think Ace
  • Four-Card Technicolor Thought Number One
  • Four-Card Think Ace Number Two
  • More Four-Card Technicolor Thoughts
  • Cased-In Technicolor Thought
  • Tabled Think Ace
  • Spread Think Ace
  • Contingency Aces
  • Bold B'wave
• Unanswered Letters

1st edition 1993, PDF 35 pages.

Are you looking for a fun effect to perform that leaves the spectator in awe? This is an effect for you. You are in complete control all the time, yet it appears the spectator makes all the choices. You relax and focus on your presentation rather than worrying about the method. This approach incorporates multiple outs into a card trick without relying on suspicious props or your pockets as an out. This method provides multiple options to easily handle different outcomes based on what your spectator chooses.

• Easy to do
• No sleight of hand
• No card indexes
• No using your pockets as an out ...

Four Kings, after being dealt to four different spots on the table, gather under a single packet, transform into the four Aces, and finally return to their original positions.

1st edition 2024, PDF 11 pages, 52 photos.

A sandwich effect with a twist. The performer has three spectators each chooses a card and loses it in different parts of the deck. Then, the performer takes two Jokers, stating that they will find the selected cards. However, the final twist is that one spectator's card will end up sandwiched between the other two spectators' cards.

1st edition 2024, PDF 7 pages, 42 photos.

An incredible new "Any Card At Any Number" effect that magically comes to fruition, despite the fact that the card and a set of numbers are chosen by a spectator, in a carousel of cards turned face to face and back to back.

An A.C.A.A.N. that develops into a dance of cards, realizing itself on the edge of the impossible.

Twisting the AC...AAN is a new card magic effect themed "Any Card At Any Number," in which the magician, shown and quickly shuffled a deck of cards, holding the deck face-up in his right hand, begins to drop the cards into the palm of his left hand, performing a dribble...

Yes, this looks impossible. You show four cards. Turn over one and the rest also magically turns over. That is just the warming-up effect. The real stunner is when you turn over the cards and suddenly three of them have big circles cut from their center and the fourth has changed color.

1st edition 2024, video 4:45.

Excerpt from the opening remarks:

Why create and print your cardbox? Several reasons:

1. To keep your decks organized
2. Easy to read cribs
3. Reveals
4. It's fun, at least to me

If you are like me, you have many decks set up for different effects and I needed a way to keep them organized. This is the best method. I simply code the decks and print it on the side or bottom of the cardbox. With step-by-step directions and photos, creating your custom cardboxes is easy. A customizable PSD file (Adobe Photoshop) and SVG file (Scalable Vector Graphics) are included with this download.

Note: You need to have a basic knowledge...

This video includes a variation of the Bert Allerton trick Eye Popper, a transposition of two cards. This trick appeared in his book The Close Up Magician.

Two Don Alan card tricks using jumbo cards: Big Deal and A Comedy card trick.

A Paul Rosini card trick taken from House of Cards, two selected cards are found after the magician has failed to find them. This trick features a variation of the Paul Le Paul Top Change. Several variations are suggested.

A comparison of Malini's handling as compared to the handling in the book: The Magic of Matt Schulien, Schulien called it 'Put It Back In The Deck'. There are two comedy card tricks from Schulien: Catch The Light, and The Professional...

You show two cards from both sides. One is the Queen of Hearts and the other is the Jack of Spades. The Queen of Hearts has a big square hole cut from its center. You briefly put these two cards together, separate them again, and suddenly the Jack of Spades has a round hole cut from its center and the Queen of Hearts is restored without a hole. The hole moved from the Queen to the Jack and changed from a square hole to a round hole.

1st edition 2024, video 2:33.

It is a selection of the card magic of Roy Johnson, in which sleights are kept to a minimum and difficult ones are eliminated. In other words, with clean handling and basic skills the effects are possible to all ... hence the title. There is variety in both effects and methods and although the majority are close-up the stand-up performer has not been forgotten.

• Cased
• Marloesque
• Coloured Triumph
• Jack Sandwich
• "Poker Dan"
• Miracle Divination
• Janet

1st edition 1979, PDF 24 pages.

If you can perform the easy block-transfer shuffle by Dai Vernon you will be able to perform Daryl Martinez's/Easton's commercial routine with only a little practice. The routine is structured to produce maximum impact with minimum effort and it creates a lasting impression on lay audiences.

EFFECT: Two selections are made from a shuffled deck, then are returned and lost. The deck is given a topsy-turvy shuffle so that face-up cards are mixed into face-down cards. This mixture is shown to be erratic and random. When the cards are eventually ribbon-spread, all the cards are face-down except two, which...

For those of you who own several of my products, you've probably realized by now that card locations are my area of expertise. And so we're back with another location that I think is a total fooler. The best part is that it can be performed with any regular deck. Very few magicians have been able to work this one out when I showed it to them - so I am confident that with this you will be fooling all your magician friends (even the knowledgeable ones).

The main takeaway of the ebook, however, is not the aforementioned effect but rather the shuffling principle that I will be teaching you....

A few tricks and variations of effects from House of Cards, Rosini's Magical Gems, and The Card Magic of Paul Le Paul.

Many of the techniques I teach in this video were used by both Le Paul and Rosini. One of the tricks I feature in this video is a trick referred to in Rosini's Magical Gems as Double Reverse. That immediately caught my eye because the very same trick appears in the John Scarne book Scarne on Card Tricks, a book I am very familiar with. So it is fascinating to me how all these threads of card magic can be followed.

1st edition 2024, video 36:18...

Two different versions of an effect, incredibly impromptu and practically self-working, which stages a play at an imaginary poker game with strange rules that always make the spectator the overwhelming favorite, but where, in the end, the magician will win against all odds, closing the game in a true Triumph of the four Aces.

A truly amazing card magic effect that will leave both you, when you try it the first few times, incredulous (it still happens even to me who came up with it, I guarantee) and your audience, as soon as you manage to propose it to them.

You will learn two versions,...

A new take on the classic Bank Night.

Seven envelopes and a deck of cards are on the table. The magician asserts that one envelope contains a $100 bill. The game is for the spectator to find it. But the catch is that the magician will also be allowed to choose one envelope for himself. To make things fair, they will use card values to determine a random number. First, the cards are moved from top to bottom until each player stops at any card. They keep the card they stopped at. To avoid any suspicion of cheating, the spectator can exchange his card with the magician's. Then, the envelopes...

You show 8 cards. Four are the aces that you place on the table. And the other four cards are jokers. Three of the jokers you put face-down on the face-up ace of spades. But when everything is turned face up, the other three aces have joined the ace of spades, and the rest of the cards are kings rather than jokers.

1st edition 2024, video 5:42

Effect: A spectator selects a card, which they then lose in the deck themselves. The performer tries in vain to find it. To locate the card, the spectator randomly points to four cards, and at the total value indicated by these, the spectator's chosen card will be found exactly.

This routine is a blend of two routines: one by Benjamin Earl and the other by Israel Rodriguez.

1st edition 2024, PDF 4 pages, 16 photos.

Effect: It's not a true Oil and Water, but I'd dare to say it's more of a Reset disguised as Oil and Water, although with a surprise ending.

1st edition 2024, PDF 8 pages.

• Hull-Scam: This is a variation of the R.W. Hull trick where an unknown card is placed aside, a spectator thinks of any card in the deck, and later the unknown card turns out to be the mental selection. In this variation, two selections are made. One is mental, the other, physical. The performer finds the physical selection - say, the Ten of Hearts - then rubs it against the unknown card, which turns out to be the mental selection.
• Hull-Quik: The magician removes a card from a borrowed, shuffled deck and places it face down on the table. He asks a spectator, "Just guessing, what's the name of this...

"This totally fooled me! It's VERY clever and VERY deceptive." - Marc Paul

"By far the best solution I've seen for this card plot. I have numerous unpublished solutions of my own but none are as deceptive as this one. When the Unnamed Magician first shared the basic idea with me, I was blown away." - Tommaso Guglielmi

"It really does live up to its title." - Alexander Javier

"An outstanding method. The creative thought process that is needed to come up with something like this is something I can't even begin to imagine." - Tony Bianco

"A mystery for the ages. I can't see anyone, layman or magician, working...

A practical course of instruction in the fundamentals of conjuring with cards.

Excerpt from the preface:

• Preface
• PART I. PRELIMINARY
  • The Art of Conjuring
  • The Cards
  • Learning and Practising
  • The Illustrations
  • Patter
  • Three Ways...

Among the hundreds of ACAAN effects, this one stands out. It offers a unique experience for the spectator that's far from boring. The spectator takes center stage, performing most actions, which makes the effect seem totally impossible. From the outset, the spectator isn't sure what to expect. The Number deck, different and intriguing, invites curiosity. It can be examined until rapture - it's not gimmicked.

This effect is simple to perform, involving only one minor sleight - if you can even call it that and you can skip it if you want. For those considering learning a stack deck, this...

A classic of card magic: Oil & Water. This version is done entirely face-up, a strong and unusual version of this classic effect.

1st edition 2024, PDF 4 pages.

Four black cards magically change places with four Jacks, only to return to their original positions. The four Jacks then turn into three 3s, and it is revealed that the fourth 3 is the card initially chosen by the spectator and kept in the case.

1st edition 2024, PDF 12 pages.

Several color changes of faces and backs combined. Watch the demo video for details.

1st edition 2024, video 3:52.

In these wonderful lecture notes, you will find a lovely self-working card trick called Dueling Card Tricks, which uses a unique principle discovered by Alex Elmsley. It has a great presentational theme of how a mathematician, a psychic, and a magician go about their business. It finishes with an unexpected climax and thus has everything a good magic trick needs.

This lecture was prepared for the participants of the Midwest Magic Jubilee - St. Louis, Missouri - August 5-8, 1993.

• Pumping B'wave
• Wide-Open Prediction
• Hull-Scam
• Opportune Oldie
• Cased-In Vision
• Ladyspell
• Chi-Psi Opener ...

The magician finds the spectator's card despite impossible conditions.

A spectator selects a card from a shuffled deck and remembers it. Before he puts it back on top and cuts the deck, the magician suggests that he shuffles a few cards from the top so nobody knows what the top card is. The spectator does so and puts the packet back on the deck. Then, the magician suggests that he also shuffles a few cards from the bottom for the same reason. The spectator does so and, this time, drops the deck on the bottom packet. The magician actually doesn't know what the top or the bottom cards are....

The spectator selects a card, which is then truly lost in the deck in an impossible way to find, yet the performer cuts the deck exactly at the spectator's chosen card.

1st edition 2024, PDF 6 pages.

Yet another reinterpretation of a timeless classic in international card magic, namely Any Card At Any Number, through the fresh and brilliant mind of Gino D'Alessandro.

1st edition 2024, PDF 3 pages.

A new impromptu and self-working card magic effect, in which the magician leaves a prediction in sight, a card is chosen and lost into a packet of a few cards taken at random and, when the prediction is opened and read aloud, what appears to be a joke, magically turns out to be the key to finding the chosen card!

A new self-working card magic effect, always possible to improvise (practically a packet trick) that will both amuse and fool you. The magician leaves a prediction in sight, then sets aside the two red Aces and has a spectator choose any nine cards from the deck. After one of them...

To become a master in anything you have to pay attention to the details. This ebook is all about details, the details of sleight of hand with cards.

Excerpt from the foreword:

Effect: For the revelation of a chosen card, the deck cuts itself. The upper part of the deck moves slowly and mysteriously sidewards at the location of the chosen card.

A serious advantage of this version is that it can be done with a borrowed deck. Another bonus is that you can do it at any time during your (card)act. No threads are being used. The method is very practical and incredibly easy. Well, as a matter of fact almost self-working.

"I've always loved the Haunted Deck and have during the years studied and performed many methods. Often there are several preconditions, such as...