Two Eds are Better Than One: Volume Eight

Direct Transposition, Vol 3

I almost didn’t read through this trick because it uses a Tabled Palm, a move I never learned. I decided to practice it because the effect seems so strong. After two weeks of work, I’m confident I’ll be able to perform the trick reasonably soon.

Effect

A participant shuffles the deck and cuts it into two piles. You lift the top card of each packet and show it, making clear which card is on top of each packet. You then turn the cards face down on their respective packets.

You ask the participant to name the card on top of the left packet. He’s wrong! It’s the card that was on top of the right packet. You turn over the card on the right packet. It’s the card that was on the left packet.

Method

Have the cards shuffled and placed directly in front of you. The cut should be to your right. You must have the halves separated from each other by about four inches. As you practice the trick, you will discover the minimum distance you need.

Grasp the top card of each packet at the upper left corner, between the thumb on top and the first and second fingers at the face, and turn the cards face up, holding them about two or three inches above each half, parallel to the table. We’ll assume the card on your left is the Two of Hearts, and the one on the right is the King of Clubs.

Lift the right-hand card and tilt its face toward the audience. Say, “Remember, this card is the King of Clubs.” Lower the card to its original position, and raise the left-hand card. Show it and say, “The card on my left is the Two of Hearts.”

Lower the card in your left hand and raise the one in your right. Ask the spectators, “What’s this card?” Wait for them to reply that it’s the King of Clubs. Lower this card and raise the one on the left. Ask them to name the card and wait for the reply.

Repeat this for the card on your right, then lift the card on your left and ask for its name. At the same time, fake-replace the card on your right as you get it into Angle or Tenkai Palm. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the next paragraphs. Or skip to the “And We Continue…” header, I won’t be offended.

Getting a card into Angle or Tenkai palms

You are holding the card face up in your right hand, with your thumb underneath the inner left corner and your first and second fingers on the face. To get into Angle Palm, close your fingers as if making a fist, revolving the card face down around the tip of your thumb. As the back of the face-down card touches the heel of your hand, move your thumb to the left so the ball of the thumb can press the card into the side of your hand.

To get the card into Tenkai Palm, turn it face down by rotating your forearm clockwise. At the same time, extend your thumb parallel with the top of the card until its outer joint can press the card to the right. The card’s right outer corner should be pressed into the palm, at about its center.

Learning the Angles

If you have never used either of these palms, you probably are wondering how the spectator doesn’t see the card in your hand. Well, that certainly is a concern, but obviously this can be overcome with practice. As I’m relatively certain you have a computer, and probably a webcam, just start up your “Camera” app and watch carefully as you move your hand around in space. If you keep the knuckles of the phalange nearest the palm pointing at, or to the left of, your leftmost spectator, and keep your palm at about a forty-five-degree angle to the floor, you’re on your way. Wiggle your fingers, or point, to see how much leeway you have in the finger motion you can make. Every few days make videos of yourself and watch them. It might take work, but you’ll add a useful arrow to your quiver if you do it.

And We Continue…

Regardless of which palm you use, your index finger should maintain contact with the card’s (now) upper-left corner. You must do two things simultaneously. First, raise the left-hand card and ask, “And which card is this?” Second, feign replacing the right-hand card on top of its packet. Move the card over the packet, lower it until your index fingernail touches the packet’s upper-left corner, then move your hand, with the card still palmed, behind the packets. Asking the spectators to name the card in your left hand provides ample misdirection for the palm and false placement.

Use your right index finger to point to the left packet and ask, “Which card is on top of the left packet?” When they reply, “King of Clubs,” say “No, it’s the Two of Hearts.”

Now mimic turning over the top card of the left packet, actually turning over the card in Angle Palm. In the same motion, get your right hand into position to steal the packet’s top card into Angle Palm. Here’s how.

Move your hand toward the upper-left corner of the left packet. As you do, curl your middle and ring fingers onto the face of the palmed card. Move your hand directly over the packet and nudge the top card forward a fraction of an inch. Revolve the palmed card face up and slap it down an inch or less in front of the packet, slightly to the left. It should land with your first, second, and third fingers squarely on its face. Your thumb will be to the left of the packet, and the right side of your palm will be on the table beside it. Move the ball of your thumb to the packet’s upper-left side, near the corner, and press the top card (or cards) into Angle Palm. It doesn’t matter if you take a few extra cards. Immediately move the palmed card(s) behind the packets. Pause, then move them to the top of the right packet.

Move your right thumb to drop the palmed card(s) onto the top of the packet, and then slide the top card forward to allow you to turn it face up and slap it to the table as you did with the previous card.

The transposition is complete.

Suit Selection Location, Vol. 4

Effect

This is a “You pick a card, I’ll find it” trick. It has the most devious method I’ve ever seen. I did it for Sal, and it fooled him badly. It’s so easy, you might call it self-workng.

But so what? A layman doesn’t know you’re using a method unknown to most magicians; his reaction will be no different than if you used a force or a key card. Well, that’s Marlo for you. I think most of what he writes is stuff to “fool the boys.” If you perform for magicians, you’ll want this trick in your repertoire. If you’re an amateur with a friend who always tries to figure out how you’ve done a trick, you’ll enjoy torturing him with this one.

Setup

You must have a deck matching the one in play already face up in your lap. Before the performance, I remove the cards from their case and use a 2½” Bulldog Clip to hold them together. I leave the cards on my chair, which is under the table. In those cases where I will have guests who might wander into the dining room before dinner and might see the cards on the chair, I use Faber-Castell Tack-It adhesive inserted into the hole in one of the wings of the clip to hold the cards on the underside of the tabletop until needed. (I found this adhesive will safely hold the cards and clip under the table overnight. None of the other adhesives I’ve tried hold the weight long enough to remove any anxiety I might have about the deck falling prematurely.)

Method

Have the spectator take the deck, examine and shuffle it. Take it back and ribbon spread it. Tell the spectator that many people you’ve performed for have accused you of using a marked deck. To allay that suspicion, you want to minimize the chance of you even seeing the back of his card. Tell him that you will turn away, and he should slide out any of the cards directly from the table to his lap, without even looking at it, minimizing any chance of you seeing it. Turn away to your left, place your right hand over your eyes, and let your left hand drop into your lap (for consistency for the upcoming deck switch) and ask him to proceed.

Give him a moment, ask him if he’s done, and turn back when he says it’s OK. Gather up the cards and tell him you’ll turn away again, to give him a chance to look at his card. Once again, turn away to your left, cover your eyes with your right hand as your left hand drops into your lap. This time place the cards you are holding into your lap and pick up the other deck.

When he tells you he’s seen his card, turn back and re-spread the cold deck on the table. Ask him to replace his card anywhere in the spread and then close and square it. Once he does this, mention that some people have accused you of guessing the approximate location, so ask him to shuffle the deck. If he is a magician, ask him to rotate half of the deck before the shuffle, to eliminate the possibility of a one-way deck. Once again, turn away while he does this. When he’s done, take back the deck.

Marlo separates the cards into reds and blacks, but miscalls the two packets. He then separates the suits, counting the cards to learn which packet has the extra card. He cuts one of the duplicates in that packet to the bottom and places the other face down on the table, miscalling it. When the spectator says he’s wrong, he asks for the card’s name, makes a magical gesture, and turns over the actual selection.

A faster approach might be to “clock” the deck to find the card’s value in one pass. Add the values of the cards (11, 12, and 13 for Jack, Queen, and King), subtracting 13 whenever the total exceeds 13. The final value will be that of the extra card. A quick scan of the cards of that value lets you find the duplicates.

You can find a discussion of clocking in Joshua Jay’s Talk About Tricks, Vol. 2, "TAPALACK". Simon Aronson’s Aronson Approach discusses clocking on pages 50 and 75.