Kuala Lumpur

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Background

Having been lucky enough to have a friend whos parents lived in Malaysia (I thank you Bob & Beryl!), we were able to stay in pretty much a lap of luxury for the first leg of our journey. Access to a top class sports club as well. Could there really be anything better ?! It was at one of those nights at the Munts house that father Munt (Bob) showed us this rather clever little number. It travelled with us from then on.

The Effect

A volunteer cuts the pack, and after a bit of jiggery poker with the pack, and through your excellent grasp of mathematics, you are able to say which cards the volunteer is holding.

The Method

Once again, we come across a trick that is pure patter. There's absolutely no maths involved (don't worry !), and the finale is a cracker.

1. In preparation, sneak a look at the third and fourth card from the bottom of the pack. Remember them.
2. Give the pack to a volunteer, and ask them to cut the pack as evenly as possible.
3. Now give the volunteer the bottom half and you take the top half. Hopefully you can do this subtlety enough so they won't get suspicious (see 'Suggestions').
4. Now say 'I would like you to do everything that I do, OK?'. Hopefully they'll agree !
5. Get them to count their cards on to the table. It's important that they count them on to the table because by doing this, they are reversing the order of the pack, meaning the third and fourth card from the bottom are now the third and fourth from the top. With me?
6. You need to count your cards on to the table too, but it doesn't really matter what number you get because you're only interested in the third and fourth cards.
7. Once you've both finished, ask the volunteer how many cards they have. Once they've told you, give a concerned 'Hmmm....' to keep them guessing.
8. The next bit you can fiddle with a bit, but here's what I say. Remember that you have to do exactly the same as them, but it really doesn't matter about the cards you're holding.
9. Say 'OK, take the top card from your pack, and throw it away' gesturing towards an unused area.
10. Say 'Take the bottom card, and slide it somewhere into the middle of the pack'. Try and make sure it's not too near the top.
11. Say 'Take the next top card and put that in the middle' the same as before.
12. Say 'Take the next top card and put it on your right hand side face down'. You do the same.
13. Say 'Take the bottom card and put it in the middle'.
14. Say 'And finally, take the next top card and place it face down on your left'.
15. Say 'OK now discard the rest of the pack' and put them to one side.
16. What you should now have is two cards each on the table. You should have no idea what cards you have, but the volunteer should have those two cards you memorised earlier.
17. Put one hand over the volunteers cards, and turn over your two.
18. Look very concerned, and ask them again how many cards they had. Make lots of whispering calculations pretending to try and work it out.
19. Then say 'I believe that the two cards you have are......', and say what the cards you memorised earlier were.
20. Get the volunteer to turn the two cards over.
21. Accept the applause and make sure someone buys you a drink !

Observations/Tips

If you've been checking out my previous tricks, you're probably beginning to get a feel for the real essence of card magic. Next time you get to see a trick, think to yourself 'With all this patter, at what point did the misdirection take place?'. In this case, it was at the very start when you sneaked a look at the third and fourth card from the bottom. The counting section really throws people as well. If you're good, then they'll really think the trick revolves around numbers. If that was the case, wouldn't we all be millionaires at poker ?!

I find that some tricks are loaded with pressure right up until the end. With this trick, the pressure's off once the volunteers two cards are down. You can breathe a bit easier then (as long as you've remembered what they were!), and work on the finale.

Suggestions

Get the volunteer to cut the pack in such a way that the top half lands on your side of the table. That way it looks much less suspicious when you pick the top half up. I do this by putting the pack right next to them. They always seem to cut away from themselves then.

The third and fourth cards are the key ones that I mentioned above, and as long as you know where they are, you'll do OK. Why not adjust the trick slightly and make it the third and fifth card from the bottom. I find that slightly harder to remember, but the effect is just that bit better.

I love to act as confused as possible at the end. Make it sound like you're unsure about one of the cards. Something like 'That's definitely the 8 of clubs, but I don't know if that's the Ace of spades or the Ace of diamonds'. Take ages making the decision, before finally taking a 'GUESS' at the card. Say 'Phew!' afterwards, or 'I knew it !'.

richard_hawkes@yahoo.co.uk

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