How to Do Magic with Deck

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To perform highly convincing magic tricks, you need to be skillful, agile and precise. Also you need to practice a lot. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t surprise or awe your audience when you first start doing magic. Instead, you should master some magic tricks with the deck and develop your magic repertoire.

Table of Contents

Put the card on top of the deck

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Practice some necessary magic tricks. Anyone who does magic tricks with cards knows how to surprise the viewer by placing the seemingly shuffled card in the middle of the deck on top. This magic show is suitable for you to familiarize yourself with quick manipulation, skillful finger manipulation, timely distraction of the audience, and performance skills. Start practicing these two skills:

Take two cards from the top of the deck and remember to keep them on top of each other (so it looks like only one card is drawn).
Slide a card in just below the first card in the deck as you put it behind your back for a moment.

Have the spectator “draw any card”. Ask everyone to look at that card and show it to everyone. Tuck it under the first card while you put the deck behind you for a while, when no one can see.

If someone objected to putting the card behind your back, say it was a way of creating a “thrill” and a “magic moment”.

Take out the deck and take the top two cards at the same time. Show only the last card for everyone to see as if there was only one card.

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Ask the audience “Is this your card?” After they confirmed it was “Yes!” Then place those two cards back on top of the deck.

Take the “magic” card from the top of the deck and insert it anywhere in the deck. Remember, the card drawn by the spectator has now moved to the head, but the spectator doesn’t know it. The audience will think it’s their card.

Explain that you will bring that card to the top of the deck. You can use two hands to perform a mysterious movement to create a strong impression for the magic show.

Turn the top card over and say “Here it is!” That will be the card that was drawn earlier. This magic show takes a bit of practice but can surprise the audience.

Four aces

Take four aces and place them on top of the deck. Don’t let the audience see this step.

The best way to do this is to place four aces on top of the previous deck. Take the deck out of your pocket and immediately start the magic show without letting the audience shuffle the cards.
Act naturally so that the audience does not suspect. Ask them “Do you want to see magic?” and start the show right away. The smoother and more natural the actor is, the less suspicious the audience will be at the magic show.

Split the deck into four equal piles in order from bottom to top. The four aces will of course be on top of the fourth deck.

Distribute the decks from left to right so that the fourth pile will be the far right.
Don’t focus too much on the fourth pile. Magic requires distraction, so the performance will fail if the audience knows the position of the four aces. Keep talking to distract them.

Pick up the first deck and move the first three cards to the bottom. This move creates the illusion that you are randomly shuffling the cards.

Divide the top three cards by the remaining three piles, each hand receiving one card. Start with the deck furthest from the four-card deck and the aces hand will be dealt last.

Deal only one card per pile. This is especially important when dealing a deck with aces, as you will need exactly three random cards that are on top of the aces.

Repeat this step with the remaining three stacks. You will end up dealing with a deck of cards.

By bringing the top three cards to the bottom of the deck, you have now brought the aces to the top of the deck. When you deal the top three cards to the other three decks, the first card will always be an ace.

Turn over the first card of each deck and show the audience four aces. If the audience doesn’t believe it, you offer to perform again.

After you have mastered this magic trick, try changing it up a bit by asking the audience to perform the steps. Give clear instructions on how to deal the deck (no shuffle!), how to shuffle the decks (just shuffle the top three), and deal cards (one card per hand). The results will not change. The difference is that the audience will believe your magic trick more because they are tricked into believing that they are in control of the outcome. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Guess the card

Take out a normal deck of cards and ask the audience to shuffle. Remind them to shuffle the deck as many times as they like. This magic trick is based on probability, there is no trickery.

Ask the audience to name any two cards. Only the name of the card is required, no moves needed.

For example, it is enough for them to just say the cards “old” (K) and “ten”. Saying “old spade” and “ten of hearts” is too specific and will greatly reduce the probability of success of this magic trick. If they say more cards, smile and say, “Oh, I just learned this magic trick so we’ll just count the “old” and the “ten”.
When the audience says the card is “old” and the card “ten” they are actually giving the names of four cards to each, because the hand has not been determined. Combined, the two cards make for a total of eight cards that are likely to be drawn: old chi, old check, old dragon, old spade, ten card, ten card, ten card and ten spades.
Theoretically, out of those eight cards, at least one old card will be next to a ten. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Place your hand on top of the deck and pretend to be highly concentrated. Wait about 30 seconds to a minute before continuing to perform the magic show. This action will give the viewer the impression that you are actually doing something with the cards that will be drawn next to each other.

This is the only realistic move that you will do during the magic show. With this magic show, you try to do as little manipulation as possible. This will reinforce the idea that you actually create magic.

Ask the audience to turn the deck over and spread it out. Amazing how those two cards will (hopefully) appear side by side somewhere in the deck!

Sometimes, there can be another card between the old card and the ten card. If this happens, just say you haven’t focused well. Do the magic trick again and hope that the two cards will be next to each other. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Find those two cards and show them to everyone. Do not touch those two cards to avoid the spectator suspecting that you have surreptitiously placed a hidden card next to the other card.

Guess the last card

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One hand holds a deck of cards face down. Show the audience that the deck you’re holding is just an ordinary deck of cards.

Show them all the cards to give them more confidence. You can also shuffle the deck or have a spectator shuffle the deck before you start.

Glance at the bottom card before holding the deck face down. Remember to only glance quickly so that no one will notice. You need to memorize this card because then you will have to name it when you show it to the audience.

Mentally say “Aces, aces” (or whatever card is at the bottom of the deck). That way you can remember that card while performing the magic trick.

Ask the spectator to block you while you are browsing the cards. This will give them the impression that they are in control of the magic show.

One hand holds the deck face down. Place the thumb of the other hand below the deck. Use the first two fingers of that hand to gently pull the cards towards you.
If you’ve gone through more than a quarter of the deck without being stopped, slow down a bit and joke with the audience to see if you can get someone to stop you. This will make drawing the last card easier.

Slide the cards from above and below the deck with one action. Use your middle and index fingers to drag the selected cards from above the deck. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Also, use your thumb underneath the deck to draw the last card to that same hand. Once mastered, it will slide smoothly into the final position of the drawn deck without anyone noticing.
Remember, this last card is the one you memorized earlier, and will soon become the “guessed” card.

Hold the drawn deck in front of you and show the audience the bottom of the deck. To make the audience believe more, close your eyes or look away when you show the audience the last card.

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Ask the audience, “Is the last card an aces?” They will be surprised because you guessed their card correctly.

Magic show “Choose any card”

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Hold the deck face down and spread it out. You don’t have to shuffle the deck, although doing so will give your audience peace of mind.

Have a volunteer choose any card from the deck. Be patient, because the more time you give your audience to choose, the more likely they will believe you won’t be able to guess correctly.

To convince your audience to believe, you should look the other way while the audience is choosing. Many viewers believe that the magic trick of guessing cards depends on superior card counting skills. It is true that some magic tricks depend on card counting skills, but this one is much simpler.

Guess the card under the handkerchief

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Look and remember the top card of the deck. For example, the card “ace spades” or “seven muscles”. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

You must memorize this card before you start performing. The audience will be more convinced if you take the deck out of your pocket and start the magic show right away.

Place the deck face down, then cover with a handkerchief. Make sure the audience sees the deck face down before you cover the handkerchief.

It is best to use a thick cloth handkerchief so that you cannot see through.
Using a handkerchief is a way to be a distraction. People will assume that this magic trick is based on tricking the eye and forgetting the possibility you have memorized before.

Turn the deck over while you’re covering the handkerchief. Remember to do this while the deck is hidden. If you flip the deck too soon, the audience will know the truth behind the magic show.

Try to flip the deck as discreetly and as quickly as possible. Use a natural movement to cover the handkerchief while flipping the deck, so that people only see what is happening on the surface.

Ask a spectator to split the deck while the handkerchief is still covered. He or she will place the top half of the deck on the other side of the bottom half. Remember to keep track of which half is which and keep the handkerchief covering the deck.

Ask the audience to just split the deck without shuffling it.
Flipping the deck over will make the bottom half of the deck the top half. This is important because when you ask your audience to split the deck in half, they will mistakenly think they are moving the top half when it is actually the bottom half.

Remove the actual top half from the handkerchief while turning the deck face down. The top half will actually have the top card you memorized earlier. This is a bit confusing but can convince the audience to believe if you know how to draw attention to the handkerchief.

Move only the top half of the deck. Leave the handkerchief over the bottom half of the deck that is lying face up.
Wave the hand that you will use to hold the handkerchief. Try to use a catchy move to draw the audience’s attention away from your other hand, as you’ll be using that hand to turn the deck face down.

Ask the spectator to draw the top card from the deck you just drew. Instruct them to show the card to other spectators without letting you see it.

It’s still the top card of the deck, but the audience assumes it’s in the middle.

Say the name of that card after everyone has seen it. You will see people looking incredulous.

Remove the other half of the deck from the handkerchief while turning the deck face down. Do this while the audience is still thinking about how you will use the magic trick.

It is possible that one wants to check the remaining half of the deck after the magic show is over. Don’t give them reason to doubt whether you’ve turned the deck under the handkerchief.

Magic show “Four cards and eights appear together”

Arrange the position of the eight cards before starting. Draw all four eight cards from the deck. With the deck lying face down, place one card on top of the deck. Place the second card at the tenth position (i.e. count nine from the top, including the top eight).

Turn the deck over and count seven cards. Place the last two eights in the eighth and ninth positions. Flip the deck face down like the original. Now you are ready to perform the magic show.

Convince the audience that you are drawing a random card. Make it big by running your finger over the deck and telling the crowd that you’re going to guess the cards.

Unfold the deck once or twice while speaking to the audience, then fold the deck.
Begin spreading the deck from one hand to the other, mentally counting to ten. Don’t look at the cards, look at the audience while still talking. When you count to the tenth card, place your index finger under it and continue to spread the deck.
Draw a tenth card (one of the four eights) and place it face down on the table. Tell them you will guess this card.

Turn the deck over. Tell the audience that you are going to count the cards. Count through two eights in the eighth and ninth positions before telling the audience, “Now you can ask me to stop at any time.”

Form two decks when the audience asks you to stop. Place two decks of cards face down on the table. Place the lower half of the deck (with the eights in the eighth and ninth positions) on the right, and the top half (with the eight on top) on the left.

Flip the top card of the left deck. This is the number eight you placed earlier. Look at this card and determine its move: “Look, this is the eight [card name]”.

Then tell the audience that card eight indicates how many cards you have to take from the deck on the right.

Count out eight cards from the bottom of the right deck. Let the deck lie face down. Arrange these cards in a third pile. Place the third deck on the table (along with the previous left deck). Hold the remaining deck in your hand, face down.

Make sure your audience is watching what you do. Count out loud “One, two, three, …” while you create a new deck. Remind the audience that you now have three decks and one face-up eight.

Take out the remaining eight cards. Flip the top card of the deck you just placed on the table. That would be the number eight. Place it next to the eight you found earlier.

You then turn over the deck in your hand and take an additional eight. Place it on the table with the other two cards.
Finally, once you’ve made your audience guess, get a thrill as you flip the card you’re going to guess (which has been lying face down on the table the whole time). Or ask a spectator to turn the card over.
See how the audience reacts in surprise, this magic trick fooled a lot of people!

Steps