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Bob Wallace / Magic
← The Royal Road to Card Magic
Jean Hugard & Frederick BraueContents

Think Stop

An arrangement of the cards in one suit is used in this intriguing effect.

Beforehand arrange the thirteen cards of the club suit in numerical order by placing the ace on the table, face downwards, and on it placing the two, then the three, and so on up to the king. The king will therefore be the top card of the packet, and the ace will be the face card. Place this packet on the bottom of the deck.

1. False shuffle the deck, using the overhand false shuffle , keeping the arranged cards on the bottom. Spreading the upper three-fourths of the deck, invite a spectator to select a card.

2. Square the deck and place it on the table. Have the spectator show his card to the onlookers, and announce that you will have the card replaced in such a way that all must be convinced that it is lost in the deck.

3. Invite the spectator to place his card on top of the pack and then cut and square the deck himself. This done, have him cut a second time and complete the cut.

4. Take the deck and place it on your left palm, extend your left fingers, and invite the spectator to cut again and place the cut on your fingers. Complete the cut yourself, lift the deck, and replace it on the left palm. By holding your hand rather high you can secretly glimpse the bottom card as you replace it on the palm of your left hand. If the bottom card is a club, square the deck and place it on the spectator's left hand. If the bottom card is not a club, simply repeat the cutting until a club appears on the bottom.

5. Stress the fact that the repeated cuts make it impossible for anyone to have any conception of the position in which the chosen card lies in the deck. Let us suppose that after several cuts you glimpse the seven of clubs at the bottom of the deck. Square the deck and place it on the spectator's outstretched left hand. Announce that by long practice you are able to estimate exactly how many cards have been cut each time and that therefore you are able to tell exactly where the chosen card lies from the top of the pack. "It is now," you assert confidently, "exactly twenty-one cards from the top."

6. "However," you continue, "there's no magic about that. Simply a matter of keen observation. Anyone can do it with practice. I propose to do something really magical. I will count backwards from twenty-one, mentally, and you, sir, will call 'Stop' at any time you please. The chosen card will rise in the deck as I count and you will then find the card at the number I have arrived at. I am counting now, so say 'Stop' whenever you please." When the spectator calls, assert that you had reached the number seven, always naming the value of the club at the bottom of the pack as your number. The jack, queen, and king are valued at eleven, twelve, and thirteen, respectively.

7. Have the spectator deal six cards on to your hand, and then name his card. The seventh card is turned face up, and it is the chosen card I

Note that if you count the cards dealt on to your hand, reversing their order under pretence of verifying the number dealt, they will be back in their original sequence. By placing them on the bottom of the deck you can repeat the trick or use the set-up for the following feat:

Book contents

Front matter

  1. Title Page
  2. Preface

The Overhand Shuffle, I

  1. The Overhand Shuffle, I
  2. The Overhand Shuffle
  3. Using the Overhand Shuffle
  4. Overhand Shuffle Control
  5. Overhand Shuffle Practice Routine
  6. Tricks With the Overhand Shuffle
  7. Introduction
  8. Topsy-Turvy Cards
  9. A Poker Player's Picnic
  10. A Pocket Discovery
  11. Telepathy Plus
  12. Thought Stealer
  13. Pinkie Does It
  14. A Card and a Number

II. The Riffle Shuffle

  1. II. The Riffle Shuffle
  2. The Riffle Shuffle
  3. Riffle Shuffle Control
  4. Riffle Shuffle in the Air
  5. Tricks with the Riffle Shuffle
  6. An Instinct for Cards
  7. Mirror of the Mind
  8. Ultra Card Divination

III. Flourishes

  1. III. Flourishes
  2. Introduction
  3. Displaying the Top Card
  4. The Ruffle
  5. The Click
  6. Spread and turnover
  7. Springing the Cards
  8. A Flourish Count
  9. Throwing a Card
  10. Waterfall Shuffle
  11. The Fan
  12. One-Hand Fan
  13. Thumb Fan
  14. Pressure Fan

IV The Glide

  1. IV The Glide
  2. The Glide
  3. Tricks with the Glide
  4. Design for Laughter
  5. The Observation Test

V The Glimpse

  1. V The Glimpse
  2. Introduction
  3. Bottom-Card Glimpse
  4. Top-Card Glimpse
  5. Fan Peek
  6. Tricks with the Glimpse
  7. Gray's Spelling Trick
  8. Round and Round

VI The Key Card

  1. VI The Key Card
  2. Introduction
  3. The Key Undercut
  4. Key Undercut Shuffle
  5. Tricks with the Key Card
  6. Do as I Do
  7. The Three Piles
  8. The Twenty-Sixth Card
  9. A Meeting of the Minds
  10. The Non-Poker Voice
  11. Intuition with Cards
  12. Sliding Key Card

VII The Palm

  1. VII The Palm
  2. Introduction
  3. Top Palm
  4. Palm Glimpse
  5. Replacing Palmed Cards
  6. Tricks with the Palm
  7. Card in the Pocket
  8. Now You See It!
  9. Grab-Bag Card
  10. Good-Luck Card
  11. Do It and Fail
  12. Gathering of the Clan
  13. Spring Catch
  14. A Vested Interest
  15. Piano Trick

VIII The Backslip

  1. VIII The Backslip
  2. The Backslip
  3. Backslip Force
  4. Backslip Control
  5. Tricks with the Backslip
  6. Lightning Card
  7. The Tantalizer
  8. Under Your Hat

IX The Overhand Shuffle, II

  1. IX The Overhand Shuffle, II
  2. Injog and Break
  3. Overhand Break Control
  4. Overhand Lift Shuffle
  5. Lift Shuffle Force
  6. Spread and Break
  7. Holding a Break
  8. Spread and Break Control
  9. Tricks with the Overhand Shuffles
  10. The Sevens
  11. Obliging Aces
  12. Leapfrog
  13. Spectator's Card Trick
  14. A Poker Puzzle

X False Shuffles and Cuts

  1. X False Shuffles and Cuts
  2. Optical Shuffle
  3. Charlier Shuffle
  4. The Cut
  5. Palm Cut
  6. Tricks With the Shuffles and Cuts
  7. An Incomprehensible Divination
  8. Circus Card Trick
  9. Black Jack, Detective

XI The Double Lift and turnover

  1. XI The Double Lift and turnover
  2. The Double Lift and Turnover
  3. Double-Lift Glimpse
  4. Double-Lift Card Reverses
  5. Tricks with the Double Lift
  6. Rapid Transit
  7. The Trey
  8. Ambitious Card
  9. Throughth and Consequences
  10. Insidious Dr. Fu Liu Tu

XII The Pass

  1. XII The Pass
  2. Introduction
  3. The Pass
  4. Riffle Pass
  5. Spread Pass
  6. Spring Pass
  7. Tricks with the Pass
  8. Off Agin, On Agin, Finnegin!
  9. Kangaroo Card
  10. Righting a Wrong
  11. Blindfolded Pack
  12. Double Speller

XIII Miscellaneous Flourishes

  1. XIII Miscellaneous Flourishes
  2. Color Change
  3. Double Color Change
  4. The Changing Card
  5. Self-Cutting Deck
  6. A Pretty Cut
  7. Pop-Up Card
  8. A Bit of Byplay
  9. Charlier Cut
  10. Acrobatic Aces

XIV The Reverses

  1. XIV The Reverses
  2. The Reverses
  3. Reversed Location
  4. Tricks with the Reverses
  5. Spellbound
  6. A Tipsy Trick
  7. Double Reverse
  8. Mentalivity
  9. Mountebank Miracle

XV The Hindu Shuffle and Other Controls

  1. XV The Hindu Shuffle and Other Controls
  2. The Hindu Shuffle
  3. Hindu Shuffle Control
  4. Hindu Shuffle Force
  5. Hindu Shuffle Glimpse
  6. The Step
  7. Natural Jog
  8. Twelve-Down Riffle
  9. Tricks with the Hindu Shuffle
  10. All Change Here
  11. Ewephindit

XVI The Classic Force

  1. XVI The Classic Force
  2. The Classic Force
  3. One-Hand Force
  4. Bottom Force
  5. Slide-Out Force
  6. Two-Card Force
  7. Riffle-Break Force
  8. Sliding-Key Force
  9. Double-Lift Force
  10. Cut Force
  11. Tricks with the Force
  12. Justice Card Trick
  13. Fours of a Kind
  14. Pulse Trick

XVII Top and Bottom Changes

  1. XVII Top and Bottom Changes
  2. Top Change
  3. The Changing Card
  4. Top-Change Byplay
  5. Bottom Change
  6. Top and Bottom Changes

XVIII Arrangements

  1. XVIII Arrangements
  2. Arrangements
  3. Tricks with Arrangements
  4. The Selective Touch
  5. A Future in Cards
  6. Jacks Wild
  7. Think Stop
  8. Deal Away
  9. The Educated Cards
  10. Reds and Blacks

XIX Routines

  1. XIX Routines
  2. Routining Card Tricks
  3. A Table Routine
  4. A Rollicking Routine
  5. Card-Discovery Routine
  6. Razzle-Dazzle Routine

XX Platform Tricks

  1. XX Platform Tricks
  2. Conus Ace Trick
  3. Ladies' Looking Glass
  4. Everywhere and Nowhere
  5. Egyptian Pocket
  6. Cards to the Pocket
  7. Enlarging and Diminishing Cards
  8. Three Cards Across
  9. Everybody's Card, I
  10. Everybody's Card, II