Good-Luck Card

Since your purpose in presenting card tricks is to entertain your audiences, you should have in your repertoire plenty of feats that will cause both amazement and amusement. In the following trick, which can cause much laughter, a spectator thinks of a card and discovers, much to his surprise, that you are sitting on it.

1. Seat yourself farther away from the table than you would normally, for a reason we shall explain later, saying, "I haven't played a game of bridge or poker for six years. If you will pretend to be me–" (address this request to one of the onlookers) "–I'll try to show everyone why I quit those innocent pastimes."

2. Take the pack, give it an overhand shuffle , and deal three poker hands of five cards each. "I was playing poker one night with two friends–one of those kill-time games–and this is what happened. Which one of these three hands shall be mine?" you ask the spectator. He points to one of the three, which you pick up and spread with the faces of the cards toward him. "I picked up my hand and noticed in it a card that has always brought me good luck. Since you're playing my part, sir, will you think of one of these cards? Don't name it, merely think of it."

3. Drop the five cards on the pack, then pick up the other two hands and place them on the pack also. Shuffle, using the overhand shuffle control , retaining top stock to keep the fifteen cards at the top of the pack. As you make this shuffle you say, "My story doesn't really become interesting until about two weeks later, when I was in a five- handed poker game." Deal five hands from the top of the deck. The spectator's card will be the third card in whichever hand he finds it in. Hold the remainder of the deck in your hand, saying, "On the very first deal, the dealer gave me my good-luck card. Since you know which card it is, sir, and I don't, will you tell me if it is in one

of these hands?" Show each hand in turn until he tells you that he sees his card. Drop this hand on one of the other hands, pick up both and drop them on a third, then pick up the three hands and drop them at the top of the pack. Finally pick up the two remaining hands and place them on top of all. Do this casually, saying, "Do you see what was happening to me? My good-luck card was following me around!"

4. Undercut the pack, run one card on to the cards remaining in the left hand, injog the next card, and shuffle off the rest. Undercut at the injog and drop the undercut on top. You have returned the first fifteen cards to the top, with one extra card above them, thus placing the spectator's card fourteenth from the top. As you do this, explain, "This is all background so that you will understand what happened next, when I was playing bridge. And I don't mind saying that even now I don't believe it could have happened."

5. "On the very first hand the dealer gave me my thirteen cards." Deal thirteen cards, push them over to him and say, "See if your good-luck card is in the hand." When he has picked up the cards to look at them, palm the top card of the remainder of the pack, which will be the spectator's card, and lay the rest of the cards on the table. In a natural manner, adjust your chair by seizing the edge between your legs with your right hand, at the same time dropping the palmed card on the chair seat as you rise a little to draw the chair closer to the table. When you are again seated, the card is well under you.

The assisting spectator announces that his card is not among those you dealt him. "Amazing!" you exclaim. "It's happened again! Tell me, what was the name of the card of which you thought?"

When he names his card, you turn to the others. "Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to bear witness to what has happened here tonight. All that my friend has done is think of a card, nothing more nor less. He tells us now that it is the four of diamonds–" (or whatever the card is) "–and I say that it could not possibly have been the four of diamonds, because I have been sitting on that card all evening!"

Get up, lift the chair for all to see the card, and jerk it on to the table. It is the spectator's card!