Introduction

Centuries ago, when playing cards were rare and valuable objects owned only by the rich and powerful, the first tricks of legerdemain with cards were made possible through the use of the key card.

The principle is so obvious that there are few persons who are not familiar with it, and yet some of the finest and most deceptive card tricks, which have puzzled and entertained hundreds of thousands of persons, are made possible by the lowly key card.

We speak of the key card as "lowly" because among the uninformed it has fallen into disrepute because it is so widely known. Using it inartistically is a gaucherie. If used with finesse, it is one of the most potent artifices in the whole realm of conjuring with cards. In this, as in many other things, it is not the tool that is important but the personality, character, and intelligence of the person using the tool. Using the same tools, one artist produces an exquisite portrait; another, a meaningless daub. So it is with the key card; the dabbler performs a colorless trick, the competent conjurer presents a brilliant tour de force.

No doubt, before opening this book, you were familiar with the principle that if you know the name of one card in the pack, and contrive to have an unknown card replaced either above or below it, you can unfailingly find the unknown card, no matter how many times the pack may be cut. This is the manner in which the dabbler at card tricks uses this principle.

But we shall show you how this same principle may be used in such a manner that even those familiar with it will be completely deceived. We shall give you the mechanics of tricks with the key card which makes use of the principle in new and ingenious ways, and shall show you how the old methods may be used so that they

appear new and different. Finally, we shall show you that use of the key card will enhance your reputation as a clever sleight-of-hand performer with cards, whose deceptions are entertaining and insolvable.

First, however, we must explain the Key Undercut and Key Undercut Shuffle, two useful sleights which have been described, but not by name, in Gray's Spelling Trick .