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Guy Hollingworth Drawing Room Deceptions Al Ims
Guy Hollingworth Drawing Room Deceptions Al Ims
HOLLINGWORTH
DRAWING ROOM
DECEPTIONS
OR
G. W. R. HOLLINGWORTH
India Magic Store
[email protected]
LIST OF CONTENTS
PUBLISHER’S NOTE 7
PROLOGUE 11
with regard to difficulties facing the author and the
validity of prologues.
ONE 18
concerning cards that turn over, move position, sepa
rate in colour and generally perform amusing feats;
including:
Waving the Aces 21
A second version thereof 31
Oil and Water 39
Cherchez la Femme 43
The Hofsinzer Problem 44
Other Thoughts 45
TWO 47
pertaining to the difficulty of magic and the merits of
bespoke tailoring; including:
The Penetration of Cards through a Jacket 48
Travellers 62
An Ambidextrous Interchange 65
A “One Card” Routine 78
Other thoughts 83
THREE 87
regarding items of stationery and the significance
of good fortune; including:
The control of chosen cards 89
An Ace Assembly 96
The Homing Card 106
Cannibal Cards 114
Other thoughts 118
* * * INTERVAL * * * 121
including a variety of eccentricities; such
as:
The shift 122
Methods of controlling & palming 133
Switching cards 150
False dealing 159
False shuffling 169
FOUR 179
incorporating a number of dishonest
practices; including:
A Gambling Routine 181
A More Light-Hearted Routine 192
“Call to the Colours” 202
FIVE 217
in which an inspector calls, and we discuss
his deceit; including:
A Destroyed and Reproduced Card 219
A Card at Any Number 230
A Card Stab 237
SIX 243
containing an assortment of items, involv
ing boxes, unusual shuffling and the fall
of Troy; including:
Three Cards under a Box 243
A Triumph Routine 251
The Cassandra Quandary 264
EPILOGUE 275
during which a method for tearing and
restoring a card is discussed
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
“Those are not suspenders, they’re braces.
Mike Caveney
April 1,1999
PROLOGUE
with regard to difficulties facing the author and the
validity of prologues.
bum it; fold it or possibly mark it, the last two being the
least common. You are trying to force them to suggest tear
ing it, as this is the first part of the effect. If “mark it” is
called, suggest that it could be marked by tearing off a
corner. If “fold it” is called, suggest that one of the corners is
folded down; then continue that the corner could actually
be tom off to take it one step further. If “burn it” is called,
suggest this is a little too drastic to start off with, but that
we will try it in a moment. If “tear it” is called, as it
frequently is, then all is well and good. (These ideas were
given to me by Bob Stencel, and then expanded by Paul
Harris in his fine Art of Astonishment books.) Once the
decision has been made that the card will be torn, your
witchdoctor is instructed to tear off a corner; perhaps, you
helpfully add, a corner with an index should be torn off,
thereby removing a part of the card’s identity. When done,
the recently torn card may be put face up on the table, and
the pack is again spread from left to right, revealing that
the same corner of the reversed card has now also been
mysteriously torn off; the second effect.
A small subtlety is now used, apparently to show the
backs of both of the cards. Remove the reversed card from
the spread with the right hand; pick up the other card and
place it below that card, so that both cards are held in the
right hand, spread a little, as if to compare them. Have
another spectator hold out a hand, and casually turn the
right hand over, flashing the backs of the cards (as the bum
is hidden behind the unburned card). Turn the hand back
so that the faces of the cards are seen and push off the top
card on to the spectator’s hand. This little “flushtrationesque”
move simply implies that there is nothing on the back of
18 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
meaning that more people are able to see the effect without
making any effort, which is valuable even when only
performing for a relatively small group. It also opens up
many more possibilities for moves and misdirection, as one
is operating in a much larger performing space: rather than
being huddled over a pack of cards, where both hands are
under constant scrutiny, by standing upright and performing
in a more open manner, broader gestures and movements can
be used to cover sleights and provide misdirection.
This discovery (albeit a rather obvious one) had a
considerable effect on the type of magic that I do. With
profound apologies for beginning the book with such a
boring few paragraphs, I should like to start with the trick
that initially made me think in this way. The stand-up
handling that I now use is explained first, and the original
close-up method follows. The latter still has its merits, and
I perform it in certain situations, but I think you will see that
the first method is much more versatile and, conveniently,
also much easier.
CHAPTER ONE 21
one this time, leaving the last two cards as one. This still
provides the effect of the second card having turned over,
but not visibly this first time. It establishes the nature of
the trick, but leaves room for improvement on the subse
quent three occasions.
With the cards held still spread in the left hand, the
right hand removes the card which has just turned over,
allowing the left hand to drop to the side, squaring up the
remaining cards as it falls. Whilst you show this card with
the right hand, again the left hand reverses the next card of
the packet. Although this may seem bold, in fact it is quite
effective and is used each time to prepare the following card.
The left hand comes up to meet the right again, and the
right’s card is replaced, this time leaving it facing the
audience, as it has already turned over. The cards are spread
out in the same manner as before: single, double, single,
single, again making use of the bend to obtain the break for
the double. Once more they are put back into the left hand
in the previous position.
This time I do use the optical alignment, but I do it on
the so-called “offbeat”, saying something like “This time, if
I were to leave the cards spread out in a little fan like this,
if one of the cards were to turn over, you would of course see
it, would you not?” With a shrugging gesture, as I say this,
I perform the move, in such a way that it should take the
audience by surprise when they realize that the second card
has indeed turned over without them noticing. This is some
what more impressive than the first time.
The right hand removes both of the cards which are
facing the audience (the top two, of course) and gestures
with these, whilst the left hand drops to the side and turns
CHAPTER ONE 29
bottom one and can be taken with the right fingers as one.
Finally the last card is taken. Needless to say this should
appear to the onlookers the same as the previous counts.
The cards are replaced in the left hand, ready for the optical
alignment, although this move is of course impossible in
this condition. Just as the audience thinks that you are
about to make the last card turn over, you stop and suggest
the following: “Perhaps you think that it is easier as the
last card is on the bottom; you may think that I am simply
flipping the cards around with my thumb for example. To
make it just as difficult as the previous times, I will sandwich
it between two other cards, thereby making it seemingly
impossible for it to turn over.”
CHAPTER ONE 31
The cards are taken back into the right hand, but
this time held from below by the finger tips (as shown in fig.
8); the left hand reaches over and removes the rightmost
card from the spread, replacing it on the face, such that the
last remaining reversed card is indeed sandwiched between
two others. This procedure seems to make things extremely
fair, but in fact it has put the cards in the correct position to
perform the optical alignment one final time. The cards are
replaced for the last time into the left hand, and the move is
performed. I do it quite quickly this time, with less arm
motion, as it is the end of the routine and should therefore
be the most impressive spectacle.
To conclude you may wish to take the cards into the
right hand one by one, so that the last (double) card is placed
at the back of the spread, from where the extra card may be
palmed out; alternatively in this condition, the entire packet
could be dropped face up on to a face-down pack, so that the
extra card is lost on the top.
using the little finger at the bottom (fig. 10). Otherwise the
move is the same: the left hand stays absolutely still,
except for the second and third fingers which curl, thereby
pulling the two cards which they are in contact with to
the left. The top two cards cannot move as they are held
in place by the thumb; as the fingers continue to curl,
the face-up card becomes exposed, and the card below it
slides to the left.
Eventually that card will slide on top of the bottom
card, and it should come to rest in perfect alignment,
because it is stopped by the fold of the hand at the left, and
kept in alignment at the front by the first finger. Keeping
the hand tilted slightly downwards at the front helps to
ensure that this is the case, as any gravity that may
interfere with matters will only serve to pull the cards
towards the first finger, keeping them squared nicely. A
slight waving motion of the arm will cover the move as
before. It should appear as if, during the waving motion,
the card which is second from the bottom has mysteriously
turned over.
36 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
by taking the cards in the right hand, peeling the first into
the left hand, then the second, then performing the double
push off to take the third as a double, and then taking the
last. Once more the optical alignment is performed to make
the third card turn over, but after this there is a slight change
of procedure.
Rather than up-jogging the card that has just turned
over, the last card which has not yet turned is up-jogged;
this is in fact the double card in the left hand. The entire
left hand moves forward, taking with it the double card,
whilst the right hand holds the other cards in place. As it
moves forward, the left little finger pulls down on the bottom
card of the double, obtaining a break below it. Pulling down
on the newly acquired break allows the right fingers to slip
into it and hold the uppermost one of the double card in
place, up-jogged from the three face-up cards; the left hand
moves back underneath the rest of the cards, taking with it
the lower card of the double and flipping it over in the same
half-pass action as before. As soon as this is done, and
the card has been reversed underneath the spread, it is
held there with the right fingers, freeing the left hand to
move forward once more to take the up-jogged face-down
card. This time, however, it is placed on top of the other
cards.
Finally the packet is again taken by the right hand
and spread out into the left as before (single, single, double,
single) and the alignment is performed one more time to
make the last card, which is at the bottom of the spread,
turn over. Again the discrepancy of the changing suit is
minimised by the order of the cards at the beginning.
The bottom card can be palmed out if you choose, or
CHAPTER ONE 39
$ $ $ * :£
Cherchez la Femme:
Likewise, a red queen and two similar black spot cards
are removed, whilst secretly adding on a third black spot
card. By a means which I shall leave to your ingenuity, one
of the black cards should be concealed behind the queen in
the form of a double lift. By putting this double on top of
the other two black cards, so that they are all spread out
face down in the optical alignment position, the move can
be used either covertly or visually, to cause the queen to
move from the top to the centre of the spread.
The visual applications are obvious, but as an unseen
manoeuvre more subtle effects can be obtained. For exam
ple the move can be performed as the hand drops from chest
height, where the cards are displayed, to waist height, by
which time they are face down. If you carefully move the
cards around as if shuffling them, (taking care not to disturb
the double), the spectator may be invited to try to follow the
position of the queen but will be unable to do so, as it was
not in the starting position that he believed. Likewise the
close up handling of the move described in Waving the Aces
II can be used to cause the queen to jump from the middle
to the bottom of the spread in a similar way if the cards are
positioned face up in the hand, and the double consists of
two similar black cards.
As a finale, the queen could be made to disappear
from the spread visibly, leaving just three black cards, after
44 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
Other Thoughts-.
Sandwich and Visitor effects would also seem to
extend possibilities to this manoeuvre. I shall not explore
these now for risk of boring the reader, whom I am sure is
ready to progress to other things.
TWO
pertaining to the difficulty of magic and the merits of
bespoke tailoring.
with its long side along the bottom. The rest of the pack has
now been turned 90 degrees, so that it is sitting on its short
side. When the hand is removed, as it will shortly be, the
orientation of the top card has effectively separated it from
the rest of the cards by being turned around, which will
make it easy to leave it behind when the rest of the pack is
secretly removed from the pocket later. The left hand is now
removed from the pocket, and the jacket should cover the
cards in the waist band. If not, then clearly they should
have been put in further to the left. It has also been brought
to my attention that a double-breasted jacket affords better
cover, both here and later in the routine.
Both hands can now be shown empty. This is an
important aspect of the routine. Although the cards are going
to be stolen back into the right hand almost immediately,
these few seconds in which the hands can be fairly shown is
crucial to the apparent honesty of the procedure. The cards
are stolen back into the right hand, during the following,
mildly amusing process. It is explained how much more
difficult it would now be to find the aces, with the cards
in the pocket; as if to demonstrate, the left hand reaches
into the pocket apparently looking for an ace. In fact it
takes hold of the bottom card of the pack, which is an
indifferent one.
As it is doing this, the right hand steals the cards in
the trouser band into lateral palm. The exact method by
which this is accomplished will no doubt vary as it is
dependent on your hand size, the type of jacket that you are
wearing, and the extent to which your belly protrudes over
the top of your trousers. Explained below is the method that
I find most satisfactory, but you will note that as the entire
52 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
When the left hand is put in the pocket, the right hand
reaches over to hold the jacket edge as before: again, only
the first and second fingers are used to clip the jacket. The
thumb, which is free, goes behind the cards in the waist-
band (between them and the shirt). This thumb, which
contacts the cards at the upper left index corner, then pushes
them outwards, so that that corner is pushed against the
tip of the second finger, inside the jacket. With the cards
thus gripped at the corner, the whole hand is then moved
forwards, so that the cards are pulled horizontally from the
waistband. By then moving the hand to the left, whilst the
inner corner of the cards is still in contact with the body, the
cards are pivoted into the hand. (The thumb has been with
drawn in fig. 2 for clarity.) The third finger may also be
used to assist in pulling the cards inwards so that they end
up in the lateral palm. In the event that you are unfamiliar
with this palming position of Steranko, fig. 3 shows it quite
clearly; you will note that the cards are being held horizon
tally, face up, pushed in between the second and third fingers
by the tip of the second finger.
The left hand is removed, bringing with it the indif
ferent card, face down, and the right hand releases the
jacket, although it should stay in about the same place, so
that the cards which it is concealing are naturally hidden.
Something along the following lines should now be stated:
“Although finding the four aces in this manner would be
more impressive than locating them if they were not in the
pocket, it still would not constitute a phenomenal magic
trick. Hence I will not do it this way.” The card is turned
over to show the audience that it is not an ace (as they had
expected) which usually provokes a little amusement.
54 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
Travellers:
In the event that you have battled through the above
explanation, a modicum of congratulation is due. If not, I
can hardly blame you, but I would nonetheless implore you
to study the first paragraph or two, wherein a method of
loading palmed cards secretly into your waistband is
explained; this technique will be used in the following,
far simpler routine, which mimics the effect of Dai Vernon’s
Travellers.
The routine starts in the same way: the four aces are
replaced in the pack and controlled to the top. Once more
the top three are palmed off, and the rest of the pack is
placed in the left outside jacket pocket, whilst the palmed
cards are secretly loaded into the waistband as described
above. It is not necessary to arrange the pack in the pocket
as precisely as in the previous effect.
It is now announced that the aces have vanished and
will reappear in different pockets. Both hands are shown
empty, and the right hand starts to move as if it were going
to reach into the inside jacket pocket on the left. To assist,
the left hand holds the left side of the jacket, near the button
hole. This allows the first finger inside the jacket to slip
between the cards in the waist band and the jacket, and
the other fingers to go between the cards and the body.
The index corner of the cards can therefore be pinched
between the first and second fingers, and by moving the
hand upwards slightly they are removed from the trousers.
The third finger may be used to push the edge of the cards to
the left, causing them to pivot around the gripped comer, so
that they are angled upwards, although this is not vital.
The right hand apparently reaches into the inside
CHAPTER TWO 63
into the pocket at all. You could look as if you are going to
put it there whilst loading the three palmed cards into the
waistband, then just as the pack is entering the pocket, the
top card could be thumbed off so that it falls inside, as you
suddenly change your mind, saying something like “on
second thought, why don’t you hold on to the pack?” The
pack may therefore be given to a spectator and the first three
aces produced as before, the final one simply being taken
from the left pocket.
Equally, if the card box was in the left jacket pocket,
one ace could be palmed in the left hand (perhaps from the
bottom), and then the other three palmed in the right hand
as before, after which the pack is put on a table. The left
hand could then enter the jacket pocket to retrieve the box,
leaving its ace there, whilst also providing the motivation
to load the other three into the trousers as the right hand
holds the edge of the jacket. Although this idea has been
tacked on to the end of the routine almost as an afterthought,
if you are prepared to go to the trouble of palming in both
hands, I am beginning to suspect that it may be the best
version.
*****
An Ambidextrous Interchange:
One of the luxuries of keeping magic principally as
an interest rather than a career, is that one can come up
with the most impractical and useless methods for bringing
about magical effects without worrying oneself with the
necessity of performing them. Strangely however, a few
such aberrations have crept unnoticed into my performing
66 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
above. This double card is used to pull back the right side of
my jacket, to expose the trouser pocket; in essence I now do
a Miracle Change (which was Mario’s variation of an old
Okito move), using the side of the jacket as cover. By using
the double card to pull back the jacket, part of the back of
the card is concealed behind the material. The fingers pull
the face card, which is the ace, downwards and to the right,
so that it is entirely hidden behind the jacket (fig. 13), after
which the first and second fingers clip the corner of the other
card (the king), and straighten out, keeping the card facing
downwards (fig. 14). The right fingers are still gripping the
side of the jacket, holding the ace pushed against it, but
nonetheless it is possible to slide the king face down into
the trouser pocket. The thumb may be required to assist
this. Since the back of the card never goes out of sight of the
audience, it is very convincing that the ace has been fairly
CHAPTER TWO 69
your left hand, all of which are red. These four cards are
displayed as two either by doing a double deal, so that the
top and bottom cards are taken, squared as one, with the
right hand, leaving a double in the left hand; alternatively
you may prefer to take out the middle two in the action
from Brother Hamman’s Gemini Count. In this latter case,
the top card is slightly pulled back to the left with the left
thumb, whilst the bottom card is buckled, allowing the right
hand to remove the middle two cards squared as one, leav
ing the top and bottom cards as one in the left hand. Either
way each hand holds a double card, with the appropriately
suited aces behind the kings.
The double card in the right hand is momentarily
placed back in the left so that it can be re-gripped along the
short edge, in readiness for another Miracle Change. This
72 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
over its card to show the audience the change, and sets it in
the top pocket in front of the others.
Finally the last double card is taken in the same
position for the Miracle Change, but this time, the Snap
Change will be performed. This is essentially the same move
74 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
in the outside pocket and lift them out. As soon as they are
clear of the jacket the thumb moves behind them and grips
them in a more natural manner. Although broken down for
the purpose of explanation, it should be noted that the card
is loaded quickly, and that the fingers go out of sight only
briefly. The fact that the thumb went behind the jacket
should go unnoticed, as the back of the hand was concealing
it throughout.
The ace in the left hand is placed on to the face of the
ace packet which you have just removed, so that the king is
fourth from the face. All the cards are placed face up into
the left hand. This leaves you in the position to do a buckle
count to show the four aces. I think it is fair to assume that
if you have got this far through the explanation you are
familiar with the buckle count: the first two cards are spread
over singly, then the bottom card is buckled with the left
fingers (or pulled down with the left little finger as I prefer
to do), so that the next two cards can be taken as one,
concealing the king. The last card is a single, but in this
case it must be put on top of the others, so that the king is
on the bottom. If you wish to bring matters to a close here,
simply palm the king into the right hand as the aces are
squared up and produce it from the right jacket pocket and
the other kings from where they already are. However if
you have gone to this much trouble, you may as well go for
the aforementioned “kicker ending”.
To achieve this, rather than just palming the king, as
the cards are squared up after the buckle count, get a break
above the bottom two cards, which is easy because that
simply requires a break above the double. Now kick those
two cards to the right with the left fingers as the right hand
CHAPTER TWO 77
held at the right short end by the right hand, facing the
audience. As this card is turned and placed into the left
dealing grip, the Miracle Change is made, retaining the face
card in the right Tenkai palm, whilst putting an indifferent
card in the left. The left hand puts the card in the left jacket
pocket, and cops it back out, face up (this is important). By
holding the left edge of the jacket with the right hand as the
left goes into the pocket, cover is afforded to the palmed
card.
The right hand then moves to the right jacket pocket
and produces the palmed card from there, showing it to be
the one that was apparently put in the left pocket only a
second ago. Depending on the exact position in which you
palm the card, you may need to turn to the right, so that the
hand is out of view when it enters the pocket to prevent the
card flashing. I find that if the card is held deeper in the
hand than normal (perhaps in more of a rear palm than a
Tenkai palm) provided the right side of the hand is in
contact with the body as it enters the pocket, it will not
flash.
This first effect is passed off as a conveyor system
that runs around the back of the jacket. The card is then
put face up in the left hand, on top of the copped card so
that they coalesce as one double card.
The double card is immediately raised up to the
appropriate position for the Hugard Top Palm, which is then
executed as the card is apparently taken with the right hand.
It is seemingly put it in the left inside breast pocket, whilst
the left hand holds the jacket in place, again concealing the
unusual position of the hand on account of the palmed card.
In fact the right hand only mimes putting the card in the
82 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
** **
Other Thoughts:
It seems to me that there are many possibilities with
the jacket that could be pursued much further. Effects of
84 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
this type have the advantage that they can easily be seen
by fairly large audiences. They also often tend to be fairly
simple in effect as they use the cards more as objects than
as cards; by that I mean that it is simply an object that
happens to be disappearing and reappearing in a pocket, or
penetrating the jacket, or doing whatever the routine dictates;
the fact that it is a card is rather incidental.
I have been fascinated by the idea of loading an object
blatantly into a pocket, as explained in the Ambidextrous
Interchange routine ever since I saw Patrick Page ditching a
large coin in his jacket pocket whilst hitching up his sleeve
in a similar manner at a lecture several years ago. It seemed
to me that a simple application of this idea was to put a
face-down double card half way into the middle of a pack;
the face card of the two would then be palmed, by means of
the Miracle Change explained earlier; the palmed card could
be dropped into the jacket pocket whilst tugging up the
sleeve, so that it has been secretly loaded into the pocket,
although it still seems to be protruding from the pack. This
notion evolved into a routine wherein a selected card was
put in between four aces and would repeatedly vanish
and re-appear in various pockets; finally the four aces would
vanish leaving just the selected card in the hands, the four
aces having gone to four different pockets. I have completely
forgotten the method that I used for this effect, but perhaps
you will be able to piece something together from the
assortment of moves and ideas in this chapter, should you
be interested.
To conclude, I should like to extol the virtues of good
tailoring. A suit that fits well will make these routines much
easier. Of course if you are prepared to invest in having a
CHAPTER TWO 85
suit made, you can specify exactly where you would like the
pockets to be. Even if you are using an off-the-peg suit it is
always possible to have it altered, both for ease of performing
routines such as these and for a better fit. It could be
argued that, rather like a conjuring trick, a suit which is
made for an average person is unlikely to fit you really well,
unless you make a few alterations.
THREE
regarding items of stationery and the significance of good
fortune.
*****
of the bottom card of the spread cards; the first ace, having
been set back on top of the lower half, is then thumbed off to
the right and slid underneath the spread cards in the right
hand, where it should glide effortlessly into the awaiting
paper clip. This should happen almost automatically, since
provided that the clip is pushed firmly against the bottom
card, there is really nowhere else for the ace to go but inside
the clip.
92 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
shuffled as before.
The other two aces can be dealt with similarly, so
that the audience should be under the impression that all
four have been randomly and fairly put back and shuffled
into different parts of the pack, whereas in fact they are all
clipped together somewhere in the middle.
Having controlled the aces into the clip, there are a
number of things that can be done with them. The cards
will cut naturally at the clip, making it easy to cut the aces
either to the bottom, or to the top, in which case the cards
should be turned around so that the clip is at the left hand
side; this means that when the aces are on the top, the left
thumb can cover the clip, by lying naturally across the top
of the cards, hiding it in its crotch. From this position, the
cards can be dealt out normally, as they slide out of the clip
94 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
to the right; in other words you could simply show that the
aces have mysteriously appeared on top of the pack despite
each having been lost individually.
You may wish to consider the following rather more
impressive alternative: with the four aces clipped together
on top as explained, they can be pushed off as a single unit.
It is therefore an easy matter to execute a strike second
deal, but all four aces are handled like a single card, so that
in fact you can easily deal fifths (fig. 5). You can therefore
deal out as many hands of cards as you like, dealing fifths
until you reach yourself, whereupon you deal the top card,
sliding it out of the clip. The next round of cards will
naturally be dealt from the fourth position, as now only
three cards are clipped together, until the second ace is
dealt from the top to yourself. Thirds and seconds follow, to
give you all four aces in a relatively simple gambling demon
stration; your only concern should be retaining the clip in the
left hand as the last card is dealt off so that it is not exposed.
CHAPTER THREE 95
*****
An Ace Assembly:
The above techniques are quite intriguing, but for me
the greatest use of the clip is to hold double cards together,
like roughing fluid. So many tricks today make use of the
double card in the context of a packet, and often if that
extra card is suspected, the entire method can easily be
deduced. A way of handling the double card more naturally
and thereby making it less obvious is offered by the clip,
and can be used in many routines. Having examined the
use in the effects in the rest of this chapter, you may like to
consider whether any routines that you currently perform
could be improved by the use of this idea.
The following ace assembly uses the clip for just this
purpose, but is also used earlier in the routine to steal three
gimmicked cards and to add them secretly to a normal pack.
These gimmicked cards are the standard double-faced cards
for the MacDonald’s $100 Ace Assembly; in other words,
each card is printed with an ace on one side, and an indif
ferent card on the other. Usually it is the ace of spades
CHAPTER THREE 97
across the face of the cards, concealing the clip at its base,
before the hand is brought back into view.
The gimmicked cards have thus been added, although
the clip itself is not needed for the next part of the routine,
so it is necessary to remove it and to put it elsewhere
temporarily. The best thing to do therefore, is to turn the
pack around so that the clip is on the right side (taking care
to tilt the hand back so that it is not seen), and to slide it off
with the right thumb, so that it is pinched between the
right thumb and second finger; leaving the clip on the
second finger, the pack is spread out, as in the previous
routine, the clip being hidden under the spread. This can
be done whilst you mention that you will be using some
other cards from the pack as well, which gives some kind
of reason for spreading the cards out casually. The last card
of the pack is then slid inside the clip, so that the clip stays
there, out of the way until it is needed later on; the cards
are then squared up, still face up.
The first three cards from the face (which are the
double-faced cards) are dealt face up on to the ace of spades.
Apparently three other cards will be dealt face up on to
each of the other aces as well, but in fact, there will be four,
by virtue of the fact that the first of them is a double card;
there is ample opportunity to obtain a break below the next
two cards when the three double-faced cards are dealt out.
Using this break it is therefore not hard to take two cards
as one. Two single cards are counted on top of them which
helpfully conceal the thickness, and all four cards are then
placed as a packet on to the next ace. Again a break can be
obtained for another double lift during this procedure,
allowing the same deceit of taking four cards as three to be
CHAPTER THREE 99
from the table and to tip it face down on to the other cards
in the left hand. This ace is then also pushed off to the right
and taken into the right hand under the first card, where it
slides almost automatically into the paper clip. The next
card is pushed off in the same way, taking care to keep the
last two cards squared as one, and this too slides into the
clip, although it should not be pushed as far in, so that the
two cards in the clip are slightly spread. In this way when
the cards are tilted so that the audience can see their faces,
the ace can still be seen, although both it and the card
below it are in the clip (fig. 7). The double card is then brought
up with the left hand below the others to complete the
spread and all the cards are squared up, again ensuring
that no more cards inadvertently find their way into the
clip; keeping the right second finger on the clip until the
last possible moment assists this.
When everything is squared up, the two cards within
102 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
two cards in each hand (the lower of the two in the right
hand being a double), they can be rubbed around over each
other, suggesting that it is impossible for any cards to be
stuck together (fig. 8).
After they have been clearly shown in this way, each
card is now shown one by one, which also re-orients them in
the correct position: with the cards still slightly spread, the
hands are briefly brought together, and the top card of the
right hand’s two (that nearest to you) is slid to the left and
held by the left thumb, on top of the left’s two cards, leaving
just the clipped double card in the right hand. This is taken
and shown as one card; the next card is then pushed over to
the right and taken under the double, so that it also slides
into the clip; the third and fourth are taken in the same
way, each going below the previous one, into the clip. Not
only has this fairly shown each card singly, but it has posi
tioned the ace secretly on top, and by wedging all the cards
into the clip, the upcoming steal is facilitated: the packet is
taken with the left hand, but the right hand keeps a tight
hold on the clip, so that it remains in the right hand when
the packet is placed face down on to the table with the left
hand (fig. 9).
You are now ready to use exactly the same procedure
for the second ace, which is caused to vanish in just the
same way. As before, the clip is stolen off at the end, for use
with the third ace, which is also vanished in the same way.
Having said that, I usually change the final vanish slightly
by leaving the ace up-jogged in the spread, even though it is
still in the clip; the cards can then be squared up but the
ace still protrudes; hence it can be slowly pushed down into
the other cards (and thus further into the clip), until it is
104 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
from the top of the face-up pack to the bottom, and the pack
turned over. This has positioned the clip out of the way in
the middle of the pack, and brought the double-faced cards
to the second, third and fourth positions from the top of the
face-down pack, with an indifferent card above them; by
tilting the hand back a little and performing three stud
second deals, the double-faced cards are dealt with their
indifferent sides up, as if they were normal cards, as the
back of each is apparently seen prior to each deal, courtesy
of the second. Four cards as three are then dealt on to each
of the other piles as before, although they are dealt from
the top of the face-down pack for continuity, the first being
a double as before. All this means is that they must be
turned face up before putting them on the table.
Likewise at the very end of the routine, when the
double-faced cards have been reversed once again to show
their indifferent sides, with the four cards held in the left
hand, with the face-down ace on top, three stud bottom deals
may be performed to imply backs on each of the indifferent
cards.
the clip is to the right, and the double card is taken by the
right thumb and second finger, which cover the clip. The
face of the double card is kept towards the floor so that it is
not seen. The other four are placed one by one on top of the
double, thus reversing their order but they must not go into
the clip. The cards are replaced in the left hand. No attention
CHAPTER THREE 109
The rest of the cards are squared up, aligning the two
cards within the clip. They may be freely shown as four at
this point, provided that the clip is concealed and the order
is not changed. It is as well to do so, as the clip allows a very
free handling of the cards, so that it seems clear that there
are indeed only four red cards. “Never mind; the trick will
work just as well with four red cards” the magician optimis
tically suggests.
The performer will now apparently search for the
card which he has deemed to be the leader card: with the
cards held face down, at waist height, by the right hand,
with the fingers below and the thumb on the back so that it
conceals the clip, the card on the face is taken out with the
left hand, looked at, and since it is not the leader card, put
face down on top of the spread, where it is slid into the clip;
the next card on the face is then taken, looked at, and
because it is not the leader card either, put face down on
top, although this one is not put in the clip, but rather on
top of it. The third is taken in the same way and put on top
of the rest. The next card on the face is one of three within
the clip; it is slid out to the left with the left hand, just as
the first cards were, whereupon it is seen to be the one that
the performer is looking for. It is therefore left face up and
put on top of the packet, after which the cards are squared
up and replaced in the left hand. The bottom card at this
point is the queen, clipped to a red card behind it.
The performer announces that he will try again,
although this time with only four cards; the leader card is
taken first, being turned to face the audience, and the others
are taken one at a time beneath it, each being shown indi
vidually, until again the last card is shown to everyone’s
CHAPTER THREE 111
going into the clip; the hands are lowered and the top card
is slid out to the left and discarded. You will note that on
each occasion it becomes more important that the cards in
the clip become squared as soon as possible. This is a knack
which must be obtained to complete the trick successfully,
as now there are only two red cards, with the queen clipped
behind one, meaning that the two in the clip must be well
aligned or the presence of the extra card will be detected,
defeating the whole object of using the clip.
The two cards left are shown freely, with the double
in the right hand, the single in the left. The hands are
brought back to waist height, whereupon the cards are ap
parently exchanged by sliding the left card on top of those
in the right and into the clip, so that they all become
momentarily aligned. Straightaway the left hand pulls out
the bottom card to the left, leaving two cards aligned as one
in the clip in the right hand; when the cards are lifted back
up to show the audience, the right card has again changed
into the queen. This may require some practice to ensure
immediate alignment of the double.
The actions are reversed, and the left card is slid in
front of the double, into the clip, so that again all three
cards are momentarily aligned; the cards are brought back
down to waist level and the top card is slid off to the left, out
of the clip and discarded, leaving one double card, which is
the queen, concealed behind the last red one.
The double card may be freely handled as it is clipped
together; it may even be turned over with one hand at
finger tips as long as care is taken to keep the clip hidden.
Many different endings are possible, including a side steal,
in which the bottom card is palmed in the right hand,
CHAPTER THREE 113
taking the clip with it; this may then either be ditched
somewhere, or added back on top of the other card, clipping
the two back together again. My preferred ending however,
is to put the double card face down in the left hand with the
clip to the left, so that the left thumb can cover it by lying
across the back. It is held deep in the hand, so that it is
almost in a gambler’s cop position, although the hand is
tilted towards the audience so it can be seen. As the hand
tilts backwards, the top card is taken with the right hand,
leaving the bottom card and the clip in the left hand
gambler’s cop position {fig. 12). This palming action is done
swiftly and without paying it any attention; it can be
accompanied by a desperate comment such as “Well, I
suppose we could try the trick with just one card.” The left
hand drops immediately to the side, and with a slight body
turn to the left, the right hand turns the last card around to
show the audience the queen, whilst the left hand discretely
affixes the other card to the magnet underneath the jacket,
leaving a clean finish.
114 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
Cannibal Cards'.
I generally prefer to avoid those effects in which the
cards play the parts of characters; presentations involving
the king of hearts being married to the queen of hearts,
who go and visit their good friends the king and queen of
spades do not on the whole appeal to me; however, the
Cannibal Cards is an effect which is potentially so strong
that I would consider performing it nevertheless; if I could
find a suitable alternative presentation, then I should readily
adopt it, but until then, I offer you the “bare bones”, so to
speak, of a Cannibal Cards routine, also involving our trusty
paper clip. The clip must be looser than ever, as at one point
seven cards will briefly be held in the clip.
The four aces are removed and placed in the top
pocket, they being our intrepid gentlemen explorers; the four
kings are also introduced as somewhat less gentlemanly
cannibals. The clip is stolen from anywhere convenient (it
could have been placed onto an indifferent card in the pack
earlier), so that it is held in the right hand, resting on the
second finger tip. As the kings are spread out at chest height,
faces towards the audience, the clip is attached to the third
king, in the manner explained before. The cards are then
squared up and turned around, so that the clip is at the left
side, and the cards are held face down in the left dealing
position.
The left hand drops to the side, whilst the right
reaches to the top pocket and removes the first ace; the left
hand’s dropping is simply to condition the audience for a
later move. It then moves back up towards the right hand
and the ace is put between the tips of the left thumb and
fore-finger, so that the right hand is free to take the kings
CHAPTER THREE 115
from the left hand; they are taken at the bottom short end,
with the palm facing up, so that the fingers are on the faces
of the cards, and the thumb on top (fig. 13). In this way the
right hand fans the cards out to the right, as the faces of the
kings are shown to the audience, thereby hiding the clip
behind the cards, although it is visible to you. The ace is
inserted into the middle of the fan with the left hand, but left
sticking out so that just the bottom left hand corner slips
into the clip (fig. 14). The fan is squared up, and the ace
116 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
*****
Other Thoughts:
It is hoped that the interested reader may be able
to make use of this device in other ways. I am currently
engaged in the construction of a cards to pocket routine,
wherein the cards vanish by means of the clip, and are
CHAPTER THREE 119
towards the body, allowing the left thumb to draw its packet
towards the palm of the hand, so that it clears the other
packet. The left hand rotates back to a normal palm-up
position, whilst the cards fall into a dealing position, and
the right hand moves forward, pivoting its cards against
the base of the left thumb over what is now the lower packet.
The right thumb reaches back to contact the short edge of
the upper packet nearest you, so that when the two packets
come together, the right hand can square them neatly (fig. 6).
Having learnt the basic procedure, you should find
that with practice you can cover the shift quite well from
both sides with both hands. In other words, what we have
here is an almost practical shift. Those of you familiar with
Bruce Cervon’s Free Turn Pass will note that this shift, through
its evolution described above, has become quite similar,
although the lower packet is not held in the same way. You
may like to have Mr Cervon’s pass in the back of your mind
when trying this one, as it will give you an indication of the
128 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
audience. Now move the right hand back again and drag
the next card on to the face of the lower packet with the
thumb. You can keep doing this rapidly, causing the card on
the face of the pack to change many times, very quickly. Of
course any time that you want to, you can pause and drop
all the cards on to the lower packet, maintaining a break,
and show the right hand empty, before resuming the proce
dure, by picking up the cards above the break and starting
the change again. I often stroke the face of the lower packet
with the tips of my right fingers as the right hand moves
back, which almost makes it look as if the card changes as I
stroke it.
** ** *
pack. This simple riffle, which lasts for less than a second,
is very disarming, as it appears from the front as though
the entire pack has been riffled, showing that the card has
been fairly squared in.
Anyway, the right hand should still be over the pack
from above, with its thumb holding the pack at the lower
left and the second finger at the upper left, with the first
136 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
the other three are similarly dealt with, each time seemingly
put deeper into the pack. By this means all four cards are
once again placed together, although this fact is not obvious. I
sometimes use the former technique for the first two aces,
and then, tiring of the exertion of stealing the packet, use
the latter for the third.
A final option is to have the aces on the table, or held
by someone else, and again to have a break near the bottom,
but then to spread off a few cards rather than riffling them.
For the first ace, ten or so cards are spread off, and then the
entire block above the break is lifted off below the spread.
Again the body should be turned slightly to the left to
conceal the thickness. The cards are replaced and the break
maintained. A few more cards are spread for the second and
more still for the third, the fourth being genuinely replaced
in the break as before.
pulled out of the palm with the left fingers, around under
neath the pack and flat on to the left hand; without pausing
the whole left hand moves to the left, exposing the cards
which it has apparently just removed from the bottom of
the pack, and places them on top (fig. 16). It is done suffi
ciently quickly that no-one can tell how thick the cut packet
is; the fact that it only contains a few cards is not noticed.
the method that I use when putting a card into the pocket
which needs to be copped straight out again (The Mystery
Card of Larry Jennings for example, or indeed several of
the routines from Chapter Two). Removing the hand from
the pocket with a copped card is when most of all you are
likely to flash the offending corner.
To palm a card, or cards, from the bottom of the pack
into this position, I advocate the following: if you wanted to
palm three cards, a break should be obtained above the
bottom three cards, and the cards are then taken in the
right hand, maintaining the break with the thumb. On
replacing the cards into the left hand, the lower right comer
of the broken cards can be inserted directly between the
bases of the third and fourth fingers, ready for the palm.
The rest of the pack may be placed loosely in the hand
(although it will have to be a little higher in the hand than
normal, so that it is in line with the bottom cards); the break
will be held right at the base of those two fingers (fig. 18).
146 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
With the cards in this condition, all but the bottom few cards
can be loosely dribbled, and the pack held very casually in
the outstretched left hand in a manner which would seem
to make the holding of a break impossible.
When the cards are to be palmed, the first finger at
the front short end of the pack pushes inwards, forcing the
whole pack towards the body; since the bottom three cards
are wedged in place, they cannot move backwards, and hence
they bend, in just the correct manner for the palm. This
also conveniently raises the inner edge of the rest of the
pack upwards, so that the right fingers can go under the
pack, with the thumb above, to hold the cards (fig. 19). As
soon as the right hand carries the pack away, the left thumb
squeezes down on the upper left corner of the cards that are
left, so that they do not spring back, but rather are left in
the appropriate position, as the left hand tilts inwards.
An interesting point to note is that if a card is in a
classic palm position, and the fingers are tensed around the
sides of the card, the hand takes on a most unnatural
appearance, whereas because of the diagonal angle of this
palm, even if the fingers are tightly curled around the right
side, they appear quite relaxed.
A similar technique can be used to palm off a single
card from a small packet. Suppose an extra card had been
used along with four aces in some routine, and that it was
now on top of the packet; holding the packet face down in
the left hand, it is manoeuvred in its entirety so that its
lower right comer is in the correct position for the palm.
The thumb is placed at the upper left hand corner of the
packet and the hand turned palm down; in doing so the
thumb slides down into the palm, pressing on the top card,
THE INTERVAL 147
other, so that it is not seen from the front (fig. 23). The right
hand rocks away from the body, rolling on the right side
and little finger, bringing the front card almost upright, and
pulling the other card up behind it. Again I stress the need
for that other card to be a little below and to the right, so
that although the cards are not squared up, the rear card
cannot be seen, as the part of it which is not hidden by the
THE INTERVAL 153
card is hidden by the hand and the side of the table, as shown
in fig. 23.
When both cards are approximately upright, the right
hand moves forwards, turning its back towards the audience;
at the same time the thumb pushes the rear card to the left,
whilst the fingers pull the original card in towards the palm
(fig. 24). The sleight finishes in the same way as the Miracle
Change, with the new card being slid face down on to the
table, and the other card being brought into the right hand
Tenkai palm.
Of course this switch may also be performed in the
action of turning a face-down card face up. In such an
instance, needless to say, the card which is to be switched
in must be palmed face up. For example, the mate of the
palmed card could be put face down on the table to the left
as a prediction, and a spectator may deal cards face up,
stopping whenever he wishes and dealing one face down.
The right hand would then switch this selected card in the
action of turning it face up, whilst the left hand simultane
ously turns over the prediction card in the same manner,
showing the match. Both hands turning the cards at the
same time makes the switch rather deceptive.
If you have ever played with a card shelf, this switch
is particularly suited to such a device. In a rare burst of
efficiency, I can actually give you a reference if you would
like to investigate the matter further: Mario has an article
in Issues 8-9 of New Tops (Vol. 14), discussing a version of
Dr James Nuzzi’s Hung Card. This reference, and the
chapter from which I learnt about the shelf, comes from
The Gene Maze Card Book, by Richard Kaufman, which I
believe is sadly no longer available.
154 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
This allows the right little finger to slide under the lower
(red) cards, and to clip them in its fork against the third
finger. These cards are thus almost in the deep lateral palm
position, enabling the right thumb to release the lower cards
and to lift up the black cards slightly (fig. 26). The left hand
then comes to assist from the left and takes the cards at
their left sides, with the thumb below and the fingers on
156 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
will pull the top of the pack to the left. There is a tendency to
squeeze the cards too hard at this point, to try to prevent
them from slipping. In fact this will only make the cards
more likely to drop, as a very light touch is all that is needed.
If you try tilting the hand slightly away from the body, at
least to start with, you should find that only the lightest
touch is required as gravity will do most of the work.
The rest of the fingers are not actually supporting
the pack, but rest comfortably underneath the cards, so that
their tips are protruding to the right. The fingers are not
curled around the edge of the pack, but are rather stretched
out straight. This is important, and is also shown in fig. 31.
(For some reason I tend to find the deal easier if the cards
have a slight bend along their long axis, so I often give the
cards a squeeze at this point, forcing the middle of the cards
towards the palm, curling the long edges upwards. For this,
of course, the left fingers must curl around the pack, but
afterwards they straighten out again.)
THE INTERVAL 161
the deal has been fully understood, you should find that it
is possible to move the bottom card out with the minimum
of force, relying largely on the force of gravity providing the
necessary pressure on the bottom card, thanks to the other
cards pushing down on top of it. The card need only be
protruding by a quarter of an inch or so to ensure a clean
deal, but in fact it should be possible to cause the card to
stick out by the best part of an inch using this technique.
In performance, the top card is pushed over with the
left thumb at the same time that the bottom card comes
out, thereby covering it. The bottom card may then be taken
and dealt with the right second finger, whilst the thumb
pulls the top card back again. Equally the cards may be
dealt by taking hold of the short edges of the card with the
right hand arched from above (fig. 34); the thumb contacts
the short end nearest you, whilst the fingers take the other
short end, which makes for a very deceptive, slow deal. A
one handed deal may even be performed with a sharp left
ward hand motion to propel the card to the right, the left
fingers having dropped out of the way. These last two deals
would be impossible without some sort of push-out, but here
they have been accomplished without bending the left
fingers downwards, which is what causes the flash in most
bottom deals. As the dealer gains proficiency, more cards
may be added until the whole pack can be comfortably used.
Having said that however, I contrive (as I believe Gene Maze
recommends) to construct all of my routines that use the
bottom deal, such that only half the cards or fewer are used.
The four aces are inserted about half way into the
front of the pack in four different places, somewhere near
the centre. As they are pushed in they are angled to the
right at the bottom by pushing down only on the left side;
this is the same as for the card control explained earlier,
and you may wish to refer back to fig. 10 to ensure that they
are correctly oriented. If you were convinced by the merits
of the riffle procedure that I mentioned at the same time,
you may wish to include that here as well.
The right hand then supports the pack from above,
with the thumb at the inner end, and the second finger at
the outer left end; the first finger is curled on the back, and
the other fingers rest in their natural places, along the front
of the pack (fig. 35). The left second finger stretches forward
until it contacts the front edge of the four aces at the right,
166 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
where they are sticking out of the front of the pack slightly
(the right third and little fingers may have to move slightly
to allow this to happen). It then pulls the aces to the right,
pivoting them against the right thumb, so that the upper
right corners are brought around to the right side of the
pack, the aces becoming parallel to the other cards; the
second finger continues to move in the same direction half
an inch or so, so that the aces are pulled still further out. At
this point the left third and fourth fingers pull the bottoms
of the four aces back into the pack, which accentuates the
angle at which they are protruding; at the same time, the
second finger pushes them slightly towards the body, so that
they become locked at an angle to the pack (fig. 36). This
complicated sounding procedure is in fact rather simple,
and serves only to orient the aces in the correct position. In
the event that the tips of the cards can be seen protruding
from the front of the pack, the first finger can curl around
the front and cover the fact. This entire process can be done
THE INTERVAL 167
rapidly under the pretext of squaring the cards in. The left
thumb then bevels over the top few cards of the pack, so
that they are at about the same angle as the aces, thereby
hiding them.
In this position, the second finger should be locking
the aces, so that they cannot be lost, and also be the major
beneficiary in holding the pack in the hand, so that the third
and fourth fingers can be lowered slightly when the cards
are dealt. Cards are dealt off the top until the middle card
is required, when the second finger of the right hand reaches
between the left’s second and third fingers and is brought
up on to the face of the lowermost ace. As it is already pro
truding, no additional push-out is required; the right finger
just pulls the card out to the right, as the left third and
fourth fingers lower out of the way very slightly, whilst the
left thumb, which has of course pushed over the top card as
if it were to be dealt, pulls it back to the left.
In the event that the cards are placed in the upper
portion of the pack, and several hands of cards are to be
dealt, it is conceivable that the cards above the aces will all
be dealt out before the last of the aces, in which case the
necessity for a second deal presents itself. For this, as well
as other reasons, it is a good idea to ensure that all your
deals can be done from the same dealing grip.
The cards are held in the left hand with all four
fingers resting along the right long edge, such that their
tips are about level with the top card. (You will already note
the glaring discrepancy with the paragraph two above.) By
squeezing the cards hard with the fingers, causing the mid
dle of the cards to buckle towards the palm, and lowering the
finger tips but a fraction of an inch, the cards spring off
the fingers; if controlled with the right hand, this phe
nomenon would be called the LePaul Spread. However in
this context, only one card is allowed to be released from
the left fingers. It does not spring off to the right, as the left
thumb is resting on top of it, keeping it in line with the
other cards. You will note that if viewed directly from above,
the cards appear to be square, yet from below, as all the
other cards are bent to the left, the top card is protruding
by a quarter of an inch or so to the right. You may find it
easier to begin with half of the pack, as buckling the whole
pack whilst also exerting a modicum of control is not easy.
By allowing the second card also to pop off the fingers,
it too will have an exposed border to the right from below,
although again this will not be seen from above. Thus the
right second finger may contact this card from below, and
deal it to the right (fig. 37), leaving the top card in place.
The next card is also allowed to spring off the fingers in the
same way, ready for the next second to be dealt. From above,
this looks quite strange, as the second card is being removed
without any visible brief; considerable amusement may be
gained by throwing this into a discussion with one’s peers
about how small one’s brief is during a strike second deal.
THE INTERVAL 169
the right hand keeps hold of the whole pack, telescoped apart,
between the thumb above and fingers below, allowing the left
hand to move away to the side slightly; the right hand now
turns the cards so that the left edges are swung towards
you, and the back of the hand is presented to the audience.
The cards are put into the left hand in a sort of dealing grip
in this way, obviously still telescoped.
The right hand immediately adjusts its grip so that it
is arched over the pack, fingers at the front, and thumb
behind, so that it conceals the fact that there are cards
sticking out to the right. The left hand can now square the
cards a little, so that they are neatly in two sections, by
running along the long edges, thumb at the left and fingers
at the right, although they should be left separated by at
least half an inch.
It is the strip-out of the cards from this position that
I should like to emphasize; it is a technique that will be
used in a later effect in the book, and should look as though
you are simply under-cutting the cards. The right hand, still
arched over the cards, slides to the left, so that the thumb is
on the bottom left corner of those cards which are to the
left, and the second finger is at the top left corner, with the
first finger curled on top. Hence the right hand is in fact
only contacting the cards which are sticking out to the left,
which it grips firmly.
Underneath the right hand meanwhile, the left fingers
also rearrange themselves, so that the first finger is at the
extreme right of the top short edge of the cards sticking out
to the right, and the little finger is at the extreme right of
the bottom of the same cards. These two fingers straddle
this portion of the cards, whilst not contacting those cards
176 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
A Gambling Routine:
Perhaps it is appropriate to begin with a complete
routine, which I perform to demonstrate the methods of the
gambling underworld, given the appropriate circumstances
and an apparent interest on the audience’s part. Even the
reader who is unconvinced by the effectiveness of gambling
routines may perhaps gain something from this routine,
since an underlying self-working principle is used, which
may be of use to him in other contexts. In effect, the four
aces are found and dealt to the performer a number of times
by means such as stacking and false dealing. At the end,
the cards are arranged into numerical order despite having
been shown to be completely shuffled moments earlier. This
last part is possibly of greatest interest, and it is that which
relies on the mathematical principle that will be discussed
later.
The cards start in numerical suit order with the suits
alternating in colour, except for the four aces which are on
top. In other words, the four aces on top are followed by all
the cards of one suit, such as spades, in numerical order
from two through to king; then another suit of the opposite
colour follows, from two to king (of hearts perhaps), followed
182 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
cut off, so that the crimp is brought back to the bottom and
the last ace is on top. A casual shuffle is given to the pack as
follows (whilst it is explained that it becomes increasingly
more difficult to find the aces, as there are fewer of them
each time, or some such nonsense): holding the cards in the
position for an overhand shuffle, a few cards are run off
singly from the top of the pack, although it does not
matter exactly how many; between five and ten is ideal.
The rest of the pack is thrown on top, so that these few run
off cards are positioned below the crimp. The cards are
then cut approximately in the middle to bring the crimped
card to the centre again. The cards are put back on the
table, and when they are cut at the crimp to find the last
ace, an indifferent card is in fact found. This is likely to be
perhaps a seven or eight (of spades if the cards were in the
suit order suggested above), depending on how many cards
you ran off.
After initial embarrassment, the performer explains
that this is of course the fabled indicator card: its value
indicates the position of the final ace. The lower packet is
picked up and the indicator card replaced face down on top,
where it came from; cards are counted face down on to the
table from that point, stopping at the value indicated. Of
course because the cards were originally in order, the indi
cator card actually tells you how many cards you shuffled
off; if it is a seven, it means that seven cards were reversed
in the shuffle, and therefore that the ace is now seventh; if
it were an eight it would mean that you had shuffled off
eight cards, and so on. By counting the cards face down up
to the number of the indicator, the last card will be the ace;
at the same time, the other cards that are dealt off have
184 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
been reversed again, so that they are now back in their origi
nal order.
The dealt cards are replaced on top of the lower cards
of the cut, all of which are then put on top of the rest of the
cards. Therefore despite having cut to the four aces, the rest
of the pack is still in numerical order, with the crimped card
on the bottom.
Four methods by which these aces may be controlled
into your hand are now explained, starting with card
stacking. It will be seen that any demonstrations can be
substituted for those that I will explain, provided that they
do not affect the order of the cards; here I use a milk build
or “chop” shuffle, although if you can find a way of stacking
the cards for five players without changing the order of the
rest of the pack, that may well be better.
The chop shuffle requires the four aces to be brought
to the bottom of the pack; they may either be put there
directly, or replaced on top and double under-cut to the
bottom. From there a type of overhand shuffle puts them in
the right order, by pulling cards singly off the top of the
pack, and then at the appropriate point, performing the
“chop”, which means that both the top and bottom cards are
pulled off at the same time. This is the order in which
this is done: to begin, four cards are run off the top of the
pack with the left thumb one at a time, in the manner of a
shuffle; as the thumb is about to pull the fifth card off,
the left fingers contact the card on the bottom of the pack,
which is an ace, and pull it off at the same time as the thumb
pulls off the top card; this is the “chop” (fig. 1).
The left thumb then pulls off three more cards singly,
and then another chop is performed, pulling the next ace
CHAPTER FOUR 185
off the bottom with the fingers at the same time as the top
card is pulled off; then another three and then the chop;
finally another three and a chop. When I am shuffling, I
think of it as “one, two, three, four; chop, two, three, four;
chop, two, three, four; chop, two, three, four; chop”. The rest
of the cards are then dropped on top, so that the crimp falls
above the cards which have just been run off.
I carry out this procedure quite slowly to ensure that
no mistakes are made; in my presentation I explain that I
am arranging the cards as I am shuffling them, so I am not
concerned if the shuffle looks rather suspicious. “However,”
I explain, “during a game, of course I would not even look at
the cards, and yet I would still be able to calculate and count
the numbers of cards which have to be shuffled in order to
arrange the cards.” As this is being said, the cards, still
being held in the position for an overhand shuffle, are cut
186 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
at the crimp, and all of those cards below the crimp are then
run one by one on top of the rest of the cards, thus re-revers
ing their order and putting them back on top. Of course no
concentration is required during this, so it can be done very
quickly; however, by talking about calculating and counting
cards, the inference is that what is being done requires great
mental dexterity.
The cards should now be in their original numerical
order excepting the aces, which should have been dispersed
such that they lie at every fifth card from the top; the crimp
is again on the bottom. Five hands of cards are dealt out,
the fifth of which is yours. As each fifth card is dealt into
your hand it is turned over to show that it is an ace. When
the fourth ace is dealt to yourself, the dealing stops, so that
four cards have been dealt to each player.
The other four hands of cards (that were of course
dealt out from left to right, as if for a normal game) are now
gathered up from right to left, so that the rightmost packet
is dropped on to that to its left, which is then dropped on to
that to its left, which is finally dropped on to the last, all of
which are then replaced on the bottom of the pack, under
the crimp. Those sixteen cards which are now underneath
the crimp, you will note, are no longer in the same order as
before; this is not a matter for concern at the moment.
It is explained that the stacking process is rather
antiquated and clumsy and that a much better way of
cheating is to use a false deal. “For example,” you say,
“suppose that I had secretly concealed the four aces in my
left hand,” at which point the aces are openly placed into a
left cop position; “now when the cards are cut, I could
secretly add those cards to the bottom of the pack.” About
CHAPTER FOUR 187
half of the cards are cut off (or someone else can be instructed
to do so), and the four aces are openly added on to the bottom,
as the cut-off cards are put into the left hand dealing grip.
“Now,” you continue, “when the cards are dealt out, I can
deal the aces off the bottom of the pack.” Saying this, five
hands of cards are again dealt out, and for the fifth hand,
which falls to yourself, a card is dealt from the bottom. The
routine relies on having an acceptable bottom deal; the
method that I use was discussed earlier, but if you have
already practised a technique which suits you, then obviously
that is what you should use.
Four cards to each hand are dealt out in this way, so
that you have all four aces in your hand, courtesy of the
bottom deal. By explaining how the cards are cut and the
aces secretly added, you have conveniently arranged
matters so that the bottom deal is only performed with
half of the pack, which makes it considerably easier. The
cards that remain in your left hand after the cards have
been dealt out are dropped back on top of the talon; the four
aces are shown, and the other four hands of cards are gath
ered as before from right to left and replaced on the bottom
of the pack. There are now thirty two cards below the crimp
which are in a different order.
(Incidentally, rather than putting the aces openly into
the palm as indicated above, you may prefer to put them
back in the pack, and to palm them out secretly; they can
then be revealed to be hidden in the hand, and the rest of
the phase continued in the same way.)
The demonstration is continued by commenting that
whilst the bottom deal is all very well, in a fast game it
would not be stood for, as when the cards are cut properly,
188 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
the aces would be brought to the middle; for this reason the
middle deal was invented. Whilst this is being explained,
the cards are cut at the crimp, bringing it back to the
bottom.
The four aces are then replaced in different places in
the middle of the pack, but left out-jogged; the lowest should
not be less than sixteen cards from the bottom, nor should
the highest be higher than sixteen or so from the top. They
are left protruding about half of their length, and the cards
are turned face up and spread on the table, to show that
they are indeed in random positions in the middle of the pack.
The cards must only be spread out as far as the bottom ace,
which leaves the last few cards bunched together, conceal
ing the fact that they are still in numerical order. The rest
of the cards however, having been rearranged during the
first two demonstrations, appear at a glance to be randomly
mixed. This is mentioned without drawing too much atten
tion to it, in a sentence such as “You will notice that the
aces are indeed randomly arranged in the middle of the pack;
there is not a fixed number of cards between them, nor are
they positioned next to specific cards, nor is there any order
within the rest of the cards that would give me a clue as to
their position.” It is therefore made clear that the cards are
in no order, although it is the aces that are the main focus of
attention.
The cards are gathered up, leaving the aces out-jogged,
as it is explained that the positions of the aces will be
estimated and that they will then be dealt directly from
those positions. The cards are turned face down, and the
aces seemingly pushed in, but in reality they are pushed
through the pack diagonally, so that they stick out to the
CHAPTER FOUR 189
right; they are then dealt out directly from their positions,
again into the fifth hand, in the manner of Martin Nash’s
multiple centre deal, my slight variation of which was
explained in greater detail in the interval section of this
book. (If you elected not to study this section, the essence of
the techinique is simply to pull the cards from the middle
when they need to be dealt.) By dealing them out in this
way, the aces naturally fall to yourself, which is the point of
this demonstration, but more significantly, the other sixteen
cards which make up the other four hands were the first
sixteen cards that were dealt out during the stacking
demonstration; by gathering them from right to left as
before, they will be put back into their original numerical
order, which I think is quite remarkable. They are then
replaced on the bottom of the pack below the crimp.
The final demonstration uses the remaining sixteen
cards which are in a different order, which are of course
now on top of the pack, thereby bringing them also back
into their original order. For this part, I explain that having
now demonstrated the most popular ways by which one
might cheat in a game, I will now show how these concepts
may be combined into one flawless cheating technique.
It will appear that again they are put back into different
parts of the pack, but in fact this is not the case. The left
thumb riffle counts four cards, and the first ace is put in
below them; then four more are riffled off, and the next is
replaced in that position, and the last two are replaced in
the same way, each being put back a further four cards apart.
The audience should now be used to the cards being put
back into different places in the centre, and therefore ought
to give no thought to the possibility that they are being
190 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
and touch, but you will also recite some poetry at the same
time, thereby making it impossible to concentrate on the
cards. I use the first verse of Lord Byron’s The Destruction
of Senaccherib (which has caused me in the past to refer to
this routine as “The Wolf on the Fold”), but the decision is
largely yours.
For the last time, the cards are covered on the table
with the handkerchief, and squared once more by a member
of the audience. In fact, because of the back to back nature of
the cards there is a huge natural break, which is very easy
to locate, even through the thickness of the cloth, but by
now the assistant will be squaring the cards as a matter of
routine, and no longer feeling so alertly for such a dis
crepancy. It is this natural break which you cut to, again
putting the top half and handkerchief to the right. Turning
over the top card of the lower portion reveals the eight,
which is apparently a mistake; the eight is put aside, and,
as in the previous routine, its significance as an indicator
card is explained. Picking up the rest of that packet, eight
cards are dealt down, turning over the last one to reveal
the ace.
You could of course end there, cleaning up the top
packet at your leisure, but it seems appropriate to use the
reversed nature of the upper packet to your advantage.
Particularly as this first part of the routine has been mildly
amusing, I like to continue by demonstrating that the
experienced gambler should be prepared for even the most
adverse conditions. This leads into a Stephen Minch routine
called Aces Over Teakettle, in which the aces are cut to dur
ing the course of a Triumph effect. A full description of
the original routine can be found in Harry Lorrayne’s Best
CHAPTER FOUR 197
that a face-down card lands on top (fig. 3). Only the top four
cards need be perfectly woven. Alternatively you may be
able to interweave the top four cards perfectly during the
initial riffle shuffle. Either way you should have this order
(where X denotes an indifferent card):
Face-down ace, face-up X, face-down ace, face-up X, face
down ace, face-up X, face-down 8, the rest of the cards face
up, with the final ace eighth from the bottom.
CHAPTER FOUR 199
You may spread over the top few cards to show the mess,
during which you catch a break above the final (fourth) face
down card as you square them up. The cards above this break
must be transferred to the bottom, which may be done by a
simple cut, or a double under-cut. The pack is turned over
and put on the table.
Having seemingly mixed the cards together face up
and face down, the first ace is revealed by a simple slip cut:
the right hand lifts up about half the cards, whilst the left
first finger maintains a downwards pressure on the top card;
when the right’s cards are moved to the right in the action
of a cut, the top card is maintained by the left hand’s
pressure, and dragged on to the top of the bottom half of
the pack (fig. 4). The right’s cards are replaced on to the
cards on the table, simulating the completion of the cut,
and the face-up ace is removed and put aside. The second
ace is produced in the same way, by a second slip cut. When
the second ace has been removed, the pack is picked up and
put in dealing grip.
Lifting off the top half with the right hand, the Tenkai
Revolve is performed; in other words, after removing about
half the cards, the right hand with its packet turns palm
up, whilst the left hand, which is holding the remainder of
the pack simultaneously turns palm down. Both packets are
therefore turned over, but for some reason it looks as though
only one has been, because of the nature of the reversed
cards.
The right hand, still palm up, puts its cards under
the left’s so that they are held by the left hand, but stepped
out to the right about half of their length. From this position,
the bottom card of the right packet is slid to the left with
200 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
his stride, he does the same with the black cards, although
quicker and with fewer mistakes. Again, it is explained that
this is simply a binary recollection system, and once the
trainee gambler has attained proficiency in this, he should
progress to the most difficult exercise of all. Picking up the
pile of spades, which are clearly in no order, he glances
through them, turns them face down, and deals, slowly at
first, the ace, then the two, three, and then all the cards in
perfect order. This is repeated backwards with the clubs,
dealing the king, queen, jack, ten, all the way down to the
ace. Finally the hearts are picked up in the left hand and
diamonds in the right, and both packets are simultaneously
rapidly dealt out into order.
Clearly this effect is simply a variation of Bill Simon’s
Call to the Colors (which I first came across in the guise of
Martin Nash’s Colors on the March). Those who are not
familiar with these superb effects should pay careful note
to the following few paragraphs, whilst those who are
already au fait with the method, may prefer to skim over
them rather more briefly.
Concerning ourselves initially only with the separation
of the reds and blacks, the entire pack starts off alternating
red, black, red, black; by spreading through the cards face
up, pushing them over in clumps, the order is not obvious. Mr
Nash suggests calling attention to the fact that there are no
particularly big blocks or runs of colour, which forces the
audience to concentrate on looking for this so that they are
less likely to spot the alternating nature of the colour. I
concur that this is a fine idea. Clearly then, to deal out cards
such that they alternate in colour requires simply that the
cards be dealt from the top, face up, on top of each other. In
CHAPTER FOUR 205
the following routine, eight cards are dealt out in this way.
These are gathered and replaced on the top in the same
order. The same cards may be dealt out again, but this time
in pairs, by dealing a top, then a second, then a top, and
another top; again, top, second, top, top; now the same eight
cards have been dealt out, also face up, on top of each other,
but this time in pairs. They may again be gathered and
replaced, and dealt out in the same manner again: top,
second, top, top; top, second, top, top; this causes them
to alternate in colour once again. These are again replaced
on top. This clever effect is the basis of the routine.
Having imparted the concept upon the audience, in
the manner just described, the cards are now dealt out into
two separate face-up piles; one for the reds and one for the
blacks. The first few (perhaps eight) cards are dealt out al
ternating; in other words, dealt off the top into alternate
piles. Then the next few cards are dealt out in pairs as fol
lows: a top is dealt, then a second (both of which are red) on
to the red pile; then a top and a top are dealt on to the black;
then a top and a second on to red; once more top, top, on to
the black; lastly a top and a second are dealt on to the red
pile. Dealing these last two reds is important, as it leaves
two black cards on top of the pack, followed by the rest
alternating. From this position, it is possible to deal out the
cards singly, in pairs, or in threes; the audience may be asked
to choose, and the response is dealt with as follows:
the first two cards are of the same suit which, if you recall,
is necessary. I usually do this by showing that I can deal the
cards alternating in suit, by dealing a top and a top, starting
the two piles; or I can deal in twos, dealing a top, then a
second on to the first pile, then a top, and another top on to
the other; then lastly, a top, and a second on to the first pile.
Stopping there causes the top two cards to match, and the
rest of the cards can be dealt out according to the audience’s
wish.)
By the same token, the cards of each suit may be
arranged into a particular order, prior to being alternated
within their colours, and then in turn, alternated with the
other colour. The subject for discussion, then, is how the
cards can be arranged so that they appear not to be in any
numerical order, yet can easily be dealt out so that they are.
The easiest way, which I usually use, is to arrange them so
that they fall into order when they are dealt out alternately
from the top then the bottom; you may like to try arranging
a suit as follows:
A,3,5,7,9,J,K,Q,10,8,6,4,2.
K,J,9,7,5,3,A,2,4,6,8,10,Q.
KD,AC,2H,KS,JD,3C,4H,JS,9D,5C,6H,9S,7D,7C,8H,7S,5D,
9C,10H,5S,3D,JC,QH,3S,AD,KC,KH,AS,2D,QC,JH,2S,4D,
10C,9H,4S,6D,8C,7H,6S,8D,6C,5H,8S,10D,4C,3H,10S,QD,
2C,AH,QS.
back with the right hand, underneath the other cards, but a
break is held between them and the rest with the right
thumb (fig. 8).
The 7 is peeled off on to the empty left hand (al
though of course the audience is unaware that it is empty).
The 4, which is next, goes on top of the 5, which has already
been pulled off; therefore, when the hands come together
again, the right thumb releases the two cards which it stole
back earlier, so that they fall on to the 7 in the left hand.
The 4 is then peeled off, so that it falls on top of the 5.
The next card which is the 2, goes above the 4, which
is now the top card of the left pile, but not directly next to it.
Therefore, it is peeled off on to the 4, but the left little finger
keeps a break between the 4 and the 2. Next comes the 3,
which goes between the 4 and 2, hence the break. When the
hands come together, the 2 above the break is stolen back
underneath the right packet, again holding a thumb break,
so that the 3 is peeled off, onto the 4.
That is now the first six cards taken care of, so we
can pause here for a moment: all of these cards can be
forgotten, as we are about to progress to the higher six cards,
so they can all be put back under the right hand cards,
holding no breaks, so that once again everything is held in
the right hand. You should now see that those six cards have
been put into numerical order, with the 2 at the top, and
the 7 at the bottom. I also hope that you understand the
concept of stealing back the cards and holding a break where
other cards will later have to go.
I regret that those first six cards were purposefully
set up in an easy order; the next six cards will require greater
concentration and harder work, but once those have been
CHAPTER FOUR 213
adjusting the breaks. The next card is the 2, telling you that
you have finished, and all the cards in the right hand may
be dropped on to the left, dropping all breaks. The cards are
now in order.
I suspect that you may be surprised that although
quite technical, the mind power required to do this is not
that great; you will quite quickly get used to it. To arrange
more than six cards at a time in order is overly complicated
as it can require three or more breaks to be held with any
one digit, which is why I separate them into high and low
values as above; if faced with a genuinely shuffled suit, I
casually look through them, glimpsing the position of the
ace, which I then cut to the back of the face-up packet. I
now run through the cards, one by one, as if looking for the
ace, and whilst doing so, perform some kind of cull or separa
tion, to separate the high (8 or above) and low (7 or below)
cards. That the ace is the last card gives a logical necessity
to run through all the cards before finding it.
Of course any cull (such as a Jennings Wedge Cull)
will do the job, but I urge you to learn Lennart Green’s
wonderful Angle Separation, which was self-published in a
booklet, as it is useful in so many circumstances. Having
separated the cards into high and low, the ordering may be
performed as explained, under the guise of memorising the
order of the cards.
To be honest, I suspect that this is not a particularly
useful technique to use within this routine; if you were to
use it for one suit, then you would certainly be as well to
arrange the cards into an order which is fairly easy to
organize. It is, however, a useful device should you happen
to mess up one of the piles inadvertently; but more than
216 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
rest of the cards can be put down on the table. The card
must then be vanished or destroyed in some way. I like to
burn the card, but feel that to burn it in full view of the
audience would make its re-appearance unbelievable; there
fore I put it very fairly into an envelope which I then bum.
(You might consider the following subtlety: having put the
card into the envelope so that the audience can see its face,
open the envelope slightly, so that only the back of the card
can be seen as you turn to the chap on your right; ask him
to check that his card is inside. He will say yes, assuming
that the significance of the comment is that the card is still
in there, but it is often interpreted by everyone else as a
verification that he has seen his signature on the card in
the envelope.)
Having burnt the envelope, and hence destroyed the
first card, the pack is casually picked up, whilst you bring
attention to the impossible location, which if you recall we
are assuming is another envelope given to the lady on your
left. Whilst discussing the fairness of the conditions you walk
around the front of the table and invite the lady to stand up
and join you there. You should guide her so that she is
standing to your left, facing the audience, close beside you,
and so that both of your backs are to the signatory. This
second spectator may remove the card from her envelope, and
show the audience, who see the identical card with the
identical signature, and with luck, react accordingly. Of
course the first spectator cannot see the card, as you are
standing in the way (fig. 5).
Taking the card from her with your right hand, you
thank the second spectator for her help and bid her return
to her seat. The effect is by now considered to be over, so it
228 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
on the lower halves of the cards only (refer back to figs 3 &
4). This is quite a natural way for someone to sign a card,
and it will allow the pack still to be used as a means of
forcing the card.
The last part of the preparation is to place a different
card on the face of the pack as a cover card; it is a good idea
to mark the back of that card with a dot or scratch, so that
it is recognisable as a different card when seen from the
back. Likewise an unsigned duplicate of the card must be
placed on top of the pack. This card should also be marked,
but ideally in a different way to the cover card. As it is also
convenient if this card can be found quickly, I recommend
shortening an edge of the card, or possibly a corner, so that
even when lost in the pack, it can be immediately riffled to.
Thus we have a pack which from the top down consists
of a shortened, marked, unsigned card, followed by about
fifty of the same card, all of which are signed .in the same
way, and finally a different, marked card on the face. As you can
imagine, given the knowledge of the underlying principle, this
pack has a multitude of uses. I will explain the two which I
employ most often, the first being the discovery of a signed
card at a seemingly random location.
Two volunteers are required to sit at either side of
the table in front of you; the one on the right will select and
sign the card as in the previous effect, whilst the one on the
left will be responsible for locating the card and turning it
over. By having the pack set up as explained, with all the
signatures on the bottom halves of the cards, and all the
same way around, the pack can still be used to force the
card. For the sake of clarity, let us assume that the card in
question is the four of hearts. Turning to the volunteer on
232 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
the right, the cards are spread out face down, with the
signatures at your side, and he is asked simply to touch the
back of any one (so that he can change his mind before
committing to it). This done, the card that has been touched
is moved forward so that it protrudes from the front of the
spread just less than half way. The cards are casually
gathered up, so that they are roughly squared, except for
the selected card. Before showing the card, the spectator is
asked whether he would like to change his mind; if so, the
card is pushed back flush and the process repeated until he
is happy. It is important that the fairness of the choice is
stressed. All that you need to ensure is that the spectator be
controlled such that he does not choose the top or bottom
card. Needless to say, whichever card is chosen will be the
four of hearts, and by up-jogging it thus, the pack can be
tilted towards the spectator and audience, so that the four
of hearts is seen, whilst the signature that it bears is
covered at the bottom by the rest of the pack. The cover
card also does its job on the face (fig. 6).
Having shown the chosen card, the hand lowers so
that the pack is put back into the left hand dealing position,
with the faces to the ground, allowing the right hand to
remove the protruding card, whilst the left hand obtains a
little finger break below the top card. The right’s card is
briefly put on top of the pack, and immediately a double
turn-over is performed, so that an unsigned four of hearts
is seen face up on top of the pack, which is exactly as it
should be. During this rearrangement, a marker pen has
been retrieved from a pocket and given to the volunteer,
who is then asked to sign the card. As above, this is done in
a way that neither the other spectator nor the rest of the
CHAPTER FIVE 233
position (as you do not want to touch it), but not to show it
to anyone. This would of course be a signed four of hearts,
unless you are rather unlucky, which unlikelihood is
discussed below. During a recap of what has happened, I
would gather up the rest of the cards and walk around the
front of the table to address the audience as a whole, before
asking the lady who is holding the card also to stand up,
coming along side me; this would bring us to the position
described above, where the person who signed the card can
not see it, as we would be covering it with our backs (fig. 5,
page 228). The card would be turned over by the spectator
to show the audience, who see the correct card and react
accordingly, affording you ample opportunity to locate the
shortened card and cut or shift it to the top. To finish, the
card would be taken from the spectator, who is thanked,
and turning to the first, it is top-changed, so that he would
see his actual card, thereby assuming that was the one in
view throughout.
Alternatively, if this situation described does not avail
itself, one can walk to the front of the table whilst having
the numbers called out; then, without touching the cards at
all, the left spectator is asked to deal out the cards, stopping
at the random number. This requires you to have faith in
this lady that she will not drop the cards, nor inadvertently
flash them whilst dealing; it does however have certain
advantages, most significantly that it is not necessary to
walk around the table at the crucial moment, which in
cramped conditions, which I have often found myself in,
appears most unnatural. One is already at the correct side
of the table to finish the effect as before, by inviting the
second spectator to come and stand beside you.
236 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
*****
A Card Stab:
In trying to arrange matters so that the spectator who
signed the card could not see it under any circumstances, I
considered a variety of possibilities. The most successful of
these is also the most bizarre, which is to blindfold him.
Whilst this may seem extreme, I think that you would have
to agree that it does indeed render him useless in identify
ing the card.
To blindfold the spectator for no apparent reason could
seem suspicious to the other audience members, not to
mention unkind, so a method for performing the Malini-
240 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
holding a left little finger break near the bottom of the pack;
I then riffle down the corner with the left thumb, letting
just a few cards off, and apparently lift off those cards, but
in reality lift off all those above the break, inviting the first
card to be replaced there, after which the break is maintained
above the card. About half the cards are then riffled off, but
again all those above the break taken, for the replacement of
the second card, after which the break is again held. Finally
all the cards above the break are riffled off, so that the
portion above the break is removed legitimately for the third
card. In this way the cards have seemingly gone back into
completely different parts of the pack.
Equally you may choose to ignore this suggestion
and use a control of your own; whatever you decide, the
important point is that all three cards are together some
where in the pack, the first below the second, in turn below
the third. The little finger break must be held below the
third as it is replaced, meaning that it is between the
246 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
that this means that the pack is out of use before any of the
cards has been revealed; an interesting point.)
Most of the work has now been done. The first
spectator who is holding the face-down card on his palm is
asked to turn it over, and it is seen to have changed into his
card; in itself a strong effect which should not be overlooked.
The performer then states his intention to attempt the same
thing again, but that he will try to get it right first time on
this occasion. Having made the appropriate gesture towards
the box, it is lifted up by the right hand as before, revealing
a card underneath it again. As this one is being inspected
by the audience, who verify that this time it is indeed the
correct card, belonging to the second onlooker, the box is
placed into the left hand, on top of the palmed card. The
card must lie square with the bottom of the box; this requires
a little readjustment if you have opted for a full palm, which
may in itself be a good reason to use the Gambler’s Cop (or,
dare one suggest that the palm mentioned in the Interval
may be an alternative candidate?).
Having revealed the first two cards in a progres
sively more impressive manner, a suitable climax would be
to show the third to be inside the box. All that stands
between us and this glorious ending is the small point that
the card that is in the box is in fact not the correct one,
which is unfortunately situated below the box. The neces
sity for a switch presents itself, and I propose the following
method.
The box should be held in the left dealing grip, with
the flap at the front, facing the audience, attached to the
lower side of the box. The right hand opens the box, and
the thumb slides into it from the front, and pulls the card
248 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
A Triumph Routine:
The second routine that I offer is entirely unrelated
to the first, although not unrelated to another section of
this book. It makes use of a strip-out that was explained in
the Interval, within the context of an in-the-hands water
fall shuffle. If you elected not to read that section of the
book, I would suggest that there is little point in your at
tempting to follow this next item (other that to convince
yourself that the trick is of such merit that you should
immediately resolve to turn back to the Interval and learn
the sleight at once).
Having stated that this is unrelated to the previous
routine, the thought has just occurred to me that this too is
a routine which traditionally requires a table with a
reasonable performing surface. This version of Vernon’s
Triumph, in which a card is found despite the cards being
shuffled face up into face down, has no such requirement.
A card is chosen and controlled to the top of the pack. I
use a side steal, by pushing the card out into what I referred
to earlier as a “deep lateral palm”, and then immediately
putting it back on top in a squaring action, although clearly
any method is acceptable.
The pack is held from above in the right hand (in
Biddle grip), and the hand turned so that the long right
side is facing the floor, and hence the cards are held side
ways, you looking at a long edge. The left hand is brought to
hold the pack in exactly the same manner as the right hand,
excepting that it is of course a mirror image; this will
require a little movement of the right fingers to allow the
left to reside on the same side of the pack (fig. 5). In this
way, the cards can be cut in two, with each hand taking
252 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
CHAPTER SIX 253
about half the pack. When the hands are rotated to their
normal positions, the palms facing the floor, the hands
should be holding their packets in about the right position
for an in-the-hands riffle shuffle, although the left’s packet
is face up. You may need to adjust the positions of the
fingers slightly, so that there is enough finger curled around
underneath the packets to support them when the shuffle
is performed.
The first fingers are curled on top of the packets, and
a riffle shuffle is performed; however, the short ends are not
riffled together entirely as they normally would be, but
rather the packets are held with the thumbs facing the body,
so that the cards are in a “V” shape. Hence, when they are
shuffled, only the lower left hand corner of the right packet
is riffled into the lower right corner of the left packet {fig.
6). You should ensure that only a single card from the right
side (the chosen one) lands on top.
From this position, the hands twist together, the left
hand moving clockwise, the other to the contrary, so that
the entire long sides of the cards are pushed about an inch
into each other. The right hand then slides slightly to the
left, so that it can hold all the cards at the point where they
are interwoven, allowing the left hand to move out of the
way. The left hand now starts to square up the cards very
slowly: the thumb moves to contact the left sides of the cards,
whilst the fingers curl right around under the pack to the
other side, where they contact the right sides (fig. 7). By
gently squeezing the thumb and fingers together, the cards
begin to square up. I pause periodically, and riffle the fronts
of the cards, so that the jumbled condition can be seen as
they are pushed together.
254 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
little finger {fig. 14). The pivot for that rotation is the
right second finger. The cards continue until they are at
ninety degrees to each other (about the position wherein
the right hand could feasibly palm the face-down cards).
The cards are at this point almost completely stripped out
of the pack, with only the corners still woven, but the entire
face-down packet is concealed by the right hand. The left
second and third fingers, which have naturally been in con
tact with the right long side of the face-down cards, now
push upwards, pulling the face-down cards with them. The
long edge of the face-down cards that the fingers are con
tacting will soon become level with the short edge of the
rest of the cards; in other words, that whole packet has
been rotated ninety degrees under the cover of the back of
the right hand {fig. 15).
I am prepared to concede that this is not an easy
procedure, and would suggest that the best thing to do is
just to get on with it, and to do it as swiftly as possible. The
left thumb should to the greatest extent possible stay at the
left side of the cards during the process; if it has had to
move at all, it should now be replaced on the left side. The
cards continue to be pushed together despite their unusual
condition, by pushing the left thumb and little fingers
towards each other. With any luck the action should look
very similar to the simpler motion of the first time. (If you
find it uncomfortable to square the cards against the little
finger, you may prefer to bring all of the left fingers around
the side of the cards, so that they are all used to push the
cards together, in the same way as for the first part of the
routine.) Eventually all the cards should appear to be neatly
squared up, with the top card flush on top of the face-up
CHAPTER SIX 261
the left thumb pushes over the first three or four cards to
the right, so that they cover the protruding perpendicular
cards. This allows the right hand to move away and to
re-grip the cards as if it were going to spread the cards out
to invite a selection. The right thumb tip is put at the
bottom left corner of the top card; the next few cards
continue to be spread over to the right, in a roughly straight
line, until you see that the first of the perpendicular cards
is about to be exposed; at that point, rather than spreading
the cards out straight, they are spread out in a tight fan in
the right hand; the right thumb pressing down on the cards
acts as the centre of rotation, and the left thumb pushes the
cards out, arranging them into a fan as the right hand turns
away from the body; the fan must be tight, so that only the
top halves of the cards can be seen; in this way, a mixture of
CHAPTER SIX 263
- face-up and face-down cards is clearly seen, but the fact that
the face-down cards are at right angles is not apparent,
because the bottoms of the cards are not visible in the fan
(fig. 16).
The cards are squared up quickly, and they should
come back to their original position, with the face-down cards
protruding to the right; the right hand should cover this
fact from above as before. All that now remains to do is to
strip the cards out. To do this the left second finger contacts
the front edge of the perpendicular cards at the point where
they are sticking out, and the whole left hand moves back
wards towards the body; this pulls the face-up cards in the
same direction, causing them also to spin clockwise (fig. 17);
as the hand continues to move inwards, the face-down cards
will soon come into contact with the right thumb, which,
264 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
are moved into a Gambler’s Cop, whilst the rest of the cards
are put on the table with the right hand, which then
immediately picks iip the shell of envelopes and puts them
in the left hand, where they nest over the palmed cards,
concealing them. In the very fair and casual motion of
removing a single card from the pack, half of the cards have
now been switched, so that the top half of the pack on the
table is entirely made up of the two of diamonds.
The next requirement is to switch the envelope that the
two of diamonds has been put in. A number of possibilities ex
ist, ranging from the use of a Himber wallet, to execut
ing a sort of top change with a sealed empty envelope on top
of the packet of envelopes. This latter idea was one which I
seriously considered for a while, but in the end I abandoned
it for a slightly more difficult, but I believe more deceptive
sleight.
The packet of envelopes concealing the cards is put
back in the pocket as it is no longer needed. I have a pen in
CHAPTER SIX 271
thereby separating the cards into two piles. (It is not vital
that the cards be cut at exactly that point, provided the top
part which is cut off contains only twos of diamonds.) The
lady is asked to select either half; of course if she selects the
two of diamonds half, that half is kept and the other
removed; if she chooses the other, that half is picked up and
discarded, leaving the two of diamonds half.
This initial “magician’s choice” selection process is
made to seem fair as all the subsequent choices follow the
same pattern. The remaining half is cut in two by her, and
she chooses either half; it is either kept or disposed of,
depending on what was done on the first selection, as from
now on it doesn’t matter which half she selects, all the cards
being the same. The newly discarded pile is put on top of
the discarded half, and at this point I pick it up and turn it
over, casually spreading some of the cards to show that she
could have apparently chosen any of them, taking care of
course not to spread into the two of diamonds section. This
selection process is continued, rejecting half the cards until
only two remain.
As she is deliberating on this last choice, I noncha
lantly side-steal a card from the bottom half of the face
down pack to the top; in this way when she has made her
final choice, I take the card that she didn’t want and top
change it. That simply enables me to show her that had she
chosen that one, she would have chosen the four of clubs, or
whatever the indifferent card happens to be; it is just a
little throw-off. It is then simply a matter of asking her to
look inside the envelope, which she will of course find empty,
and then turning over the card that she chose to reveal the
fated two of diamonds.
CHAPTER SIX 273
spectator to sign the card along the border at the top “so
that it is more clearly visible, as the picture on the card can
otherwise obscure it”. Hence, by way of preparation, a
signature of some kind should be put on the border of one of
the short edges of the duplicate card. It is not important
what is written, as it stands little chance of being even
remotely similar to the real thing, but that is not a problem.
That card having been signed must also be folded
into quarters. It is first folded in half along the short axis,
so that the face of the card is on the outside; in fact it is
ideal if it is not folded perfectly in half, but rather just
offset, so that the side which bears the signature is a little
below the other side. In this way when seen from the front,
the fact that there is a double edge is less obvious. The card
is then folded in half again, inwards so that the signature is
folded inside, and the card is in a neat packet folded into
quarters. You may care to glance ahead to the first illustra-
m tion to ensure that you have folded the card correctly. That
is all the preparation that is required, save for putting that
card in a place where it can be easily obtained shortly; the
left trouser pocket generally suffices.
The other card must then of course be forced. I often
have a bank of a few force cards, which not only makes a
classic force much easier, but also allows the trick to be
repeated a number of times in the same evening using the
same card, rather than having to co-ordinate getting hold
of the appropriate folded card after forcing different cards
on different occasions. Having been selected, the card is
signed by the spectator, as described above, on the border.
Whilst this is going on, the folded card is quietly removed
from the left trouser pocket and concealed in the left finger
280 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
palm, so that the index is facing you, and the open edge is to
the ground, with the folded edge at the top. Alternatively,
the folded card can be held in the clip of the pen, and stolen
out when the pen is being removed from a pocket, in the
action of giving it to the spectator, although I find the
previous method more practical for everyday use.
The signed card is taken back from the spectator, and
held facing away from the audience, so that you can see the
face; the signature should be on the bottom. Meanwhile the
left hand also palms the folded card {fig. 1). The right hand
is then used to bend the bottom of the card outwards towards
the viewers, bringing it right around to the top, to fold the
card in half along the short axis. Again it should not be
folded exactly, but so that the side nearer the audience (with
the signature) is very slightly longer than the edge on your
side. The palmed card should not interfere with this. The
card is then rotated ninety degrees anti-clockwise, and folded
in half downwards, so that the signature is on the outside;
it is folded in exactly the same way (and is also in exactly
the same orientation) as the duplicate in the left hand, but
with the signature in a different place. Just as a way of
remembering the folding procedure, I remember that the
fake signature should be hidden as much as possible, and
hence the fake card is folded so that the signature is on
the shorter edge, and then folded inwards to conceal it;
the card with the more important real signature is folded,
by contrast, so that the signature is on the longer edge, and
is then folded on the outside, so that it can be seen.
I used to load the folded card behind the signed card,
so that the hands could be shown empty during the first
fold, then stealing the card back into the same position for
THE EPILOGUE 281
only torn half way, up to where the two folds cross (fig. 4).
At this point, as if to emphasize that the card really has
been torn, the top left quarter of the card is folded down
towards you, with the left thumb. Thus three quarters of
the card is seen from the front, which clearly proves that
the card has indeed been torn. The right hand now grips
the card, holding it in the middle, so that the folded piece is
held folded down, allowing the left hand to move away
slightly.
Exactly the same Wagner move is performed again,
to add the palmed folded card on top of the folded part of
the real card. The left thumb supports the palmed card
again, allowing the fingers to straighten, and the hand
approaches the right, depositing the folded card on top of
the folded part of the left card (fig. 5). Once again the front
part of the palmed card is slid under the right fingers, which
hold it in place, whilst the thumb moves upwards, unfolding
the card as it goes. Again, the card should only be momen
tarily covered, the left hand apparently only being used to
open up the folded part. Everything is now gripped by the
right hand, the fingers of which are gripping the two cards
at the front where they join, thereby concealing as much.
The left hand can be removed, as the signature that is now
visible is the correct one. (As an alternative, after folding
back the top left quarter of the card, I often fold down the
top right quarter too, although I do not hold it down, but
rather hold the card with the right thumb underneath that
right folded part. Then, when the left hand adds on the
folded card (fig. 6), the left thumb also contacts the tip of
that folded quarter on the right, so that both sides are opened
up at the same time; it is a small point, and probably not
286 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
*****
292 DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS
below it. This minor detail is not vital, but quite helpful in a
moment. What is important is that the thumb rests along
the entire length of that edge of the card. The second finger
then moves slightly, straightening and creeping around the
other long side of the card, so that it contacts that side,
opposite the thumb, along its entire length (fig. 15).
THE EPILOGUE 295
curl into the gap, thereby covering the folded part of the
card beneath, making it almost angle-proof.
Whatever the case, the right hand is presenting the
opened quarter to the audience, concealing the other folded
part behind it. The left hand, holding its piece of card at the
untorn short edge, facing towards the audience, places its
card next to the right’s, so that they line up (fig. 17). This
piece of card is held in place at its edges by the right second
finger and thumb which of course also support the other
piece. The left hand now releases its grip, although you
may wish to consider that the single quarter should in fact
have a part of a signature on it, so it may not be a good idea
to take the hand away completely, but instead to keep it
hovering over the piece to conceal this discrepancy.
The left hand moves to the right, so that the single
quarter is in the correct position to be finger palmed. The
left thumb reaches behind to contact the edge of the edge-
THE EPILOGUE 297
real card is held in place by the right little and third fingers,
which are still clipping it, preventing it from moving. When
the parts of the cards which are being folded and unfolded
reach about ninety degrees, it will be necessary for the right
thumb to move to the right to allow the cards to continue
their movement. This requires the left hand to support
everything momentarily, although the right thumb may be
replaced behind as soon as the cards are clear. As the left
thumb continues upwards, the real card is fully opened,
and the fake card is neatly folded up into quarters, and
concealed by the tips of the left fingers.
The left hand moves to the left, taking the pieces of
the fake with it, flexing the card as if mending it, until the
pieces are just clear of the real card. As soon as they are,
the left finger tips stretch out as much as they can towards
the audience, which may well only be a fraction of an inch,
but it is enough to allow the real card to slip between the
fingers and the pieces of fake card {fig. 29). The left hand
then moves back for one final massage of the join, pushing
the pieces behind the card, so that they can be pinched with
the right thumb, allowing the left hand to move away to
show the completely restored card. The entire restoration
of the last piece only takes a few seconds, and is quite
deceptive once the moves have been mastered. I should
perhaps mention that I generally point out that there are
two edges of the final piece that need to be restored, making
it that much more difficult. The action of unfolding the card
and moving the pieces to the left is performed as the resto
ration of the first edge, giving a good reason to move the left
hand back over the card, apparently to join the second edge,
but in fact of course to load the pieces behind the card.
THE EPILOGUE 307