24 . .Transposition Extraordinary
26. The Downs Slip Cut
In a 1924 letter to the magician Eddie McGuire, Downs described another version of the above move which is done visiblyas an apparent cut. The deck is in the left hand. The' left thumb contacts the top card.
The right hand grasps the top half of the deck and moves it to the right. The left thumb retains the top card In place. The situation IS
exactly as in Figure 41. .
But as soon as the right-hand packet clears the cardsInthe left hand, the right-hand packet is slapped on top of the left hand cards. Done casually,this looks as if the deck were given a straight cut. Act~ally. all that has happened is that the top card of the deck has been slipped to the middle. The order of the other cards is intact. Downs used the move to get rid of an unwanted card on top of the deck. In 1931 Frank Lane suggested this type of move as a false cut, and that is the use to which it has generally been put ever since.
27. "Downs Slip Cut" Notes
There are many ways in which the Downs Slip Cut can be exploited. In this application, you apparently cut to the four aces.
Secretly place the four aces on top of the deck. Tell the spectator that, after years of practice, you have mastered the technique of cutting to the aces. Place the deck face down in the left hand. Grasp the deck from above with the right hand, fingers in front, thumb in back.
The thumb riffles up from the bottom of the deck until you have riffled about 13 cards-a quarter of the deck--off the thumb. Turn your head aside as you do thistomake it clear that you need not look at the deck while cutting to the aces.
The right hand lifts up the top three-quarters of the deck and draws
IIto the right. At the same time the left thumb retains the top card of 'fie deck (an ace) in place. The result of this action is that this card will end up on top of the cards in the left hand.
The left hand moves to the left and simultaneously turns its packet over and drops it face up on the table. An indifferent cardwill show at the face of the packet.
~epe~t the above actions with another quarter of the deck, and then agam with another quarter of the deck, so that there
will
be three face-up packets on the table. On the fourth round, the left hand simply takes the remamder of the deck from the right hand, turns it Over and places it face up on the table. There are now four face-up packets on the table.The audience will be less than impressed with your feat, because you
The Banded Deck 35 have clearly not cut to the aces. Act puzzled at the lack of applause.
Remember that to this point you have been looking away, so that you do not appear toknow yet that you have failedtocuttoa single ace.
Look at the spectators,then at the packets on the table. Say, "The aces aren't at the faces of the packets. They're at the backs." Turn each packet over. Then turn up the top card of each packettoreveal an ace.
The appearance of the four aces is surprising and should bring a round of applause from the audience.
Allof the routines in this chapter require stacked decks. In most cases the setting up can be done ahead of time. Included here is an effect called "The Dream," a startling example of a magical paradox. The principle contained in "The Missing Pair" has since been exploited to produce a whole new area of card magic.
28. Psycholia
The deck is given a fair dovetail shuffle. The spectator cuts the deck and completes the cut. Then the low-valued cards are removed and discarded. The remainder of the deck is cut into two heaps. Aand B.
The performer goes into another room and instructs the spectator to remove five cards from heapA and note these cards. The names of the cards can be jotted down on a slip of paper. Another spectator removes one card from heap B. The five cards are replaced in heap B and the single card is replaced in heap A. Each heap is separately shuffled. Then the two heaps are placed together, one on top of the other.
The spectator begins reading off cards from the top of the deck. At some point the magician stops him and names all six chosen cards even though five of them have never been named by the spectator!
Method: Take any well-shuffled deck and remove the 2's, S's, 4's, 5's and 6's. Write down the order of the 7's, S's, 9's, lO's,jacks, queens, kings and aces. Put these 32 high cards on top of the deck and the low-valued cards on the bottom. From another pack remove the 7's through aces and arrange them in the same order, by value and suit, as the high cards in the first pack. Then place this 32-card packet in your pocket. Retur-n the deck to its case. This is the extent of the prior preparation.
To perform the trick, remove the deck from its case. Cut at the point between the low-valued cards and the rest of the deck. Dovetail shuffle the two packets together. Place the deck on the table and have the spectator give it a straight cut. Then turn the deck face up and remove the low-valued cards. These cards (the 2's through 6's) are discarded
Stacked-Deck Tricks 37 since they are not used in this trick. The spectator is then asked to give the balance of the deck any number of straight cuts.
Ask the spectator to cut the 32-card packet into two heaps. In the act of squaring up each heap, spot the face card of each. Assume these cards are the • K and the. 9. Retire to an adjoining room. When you are out of the audience's view, remove the 32-card packet from your pocket and cut either of the two noted cards to the bottom of the packet. Assume you cut the. K to the face of the packet. Then cut the packet into two heaps so that the • K is the face card of one heap and the .9 the face card of the other heap. This means that your two packets will be identical with the spectator's two packets.
Note a prominent card in one heap, say the .A. Say to the spectator, "See which packet contains the ace of Spades. Have five cards removed from that packet and one card from the other packet."
Have the spectator note the five cards on a slip of paper. He then shuffles these five cards into the opposite packet. The spectator with the single card shuffles his card into the .A packet. Have the .A packet placed on top of the other packet. The spectator then calls out the cards one at a time, beginning at the top of the 32-card packet.
As he calls out the cards, remove the same cards from your duplicate
• A packet. At some point he will call out a card that you cannot find in your" A packet. This is the single card chosen by the other spectator.
Make a mental note of this card.
The spectator continues calling out cards and you continue remov-ing them from the .A packet until you have just five cards left. These are the five cards chosen by the first spectator. Halt the deal at this point. Reveal these five cards plus the single card you noted earlier in the deal. Give it the proper buildup and you will be credited with uncanny powers.
29. Divino
The deck is spread face up to show that the cards are in no particular order. The spectator then gives the deck a straight cut and deals it into two heaps. He chooses a number between 12 and 20, and notes the card at that location in one heap. The heap is then shuffled by the spectator and placed in the center of the other heap.
The performer placesthe deck in his pocket. The spectator calls out a number from I to 12. Say he calls 9. The performer removes nine cards from his pocket, and the ninth card provestobe the very card chosen by the spectator.
Method: Remove 25 cards from a well-shuffled deck. Note their order.
Then remove the duplicates of these cards from a matching deck and arrange them in the same order. Place the two packets together, one on top of the other. Each half of the deck thus consists of the same cards in the same order.
deals the deck into two heaps, a card to each heap alternately ~rom left to right. Ask him to pick up the left-hand heap. Then have him name any number between 12 and 20. Whatever the number, he deals that many cards off the top of the heap and notes the last card dealt. Then he assembles the heap and givesit a good shuffle.
Lift off the top half of the other heap. The number of cards you cut off is not important just as long as you cut more than ten cards. The spectator places his shuffled heap into yours at the point of the cut, thus burying his cards. Replace the cut-off portion. Then place the deck into your pocket.
Whatever number he called out, mentally deduct 12 from it. Thus. if he called out 13, deduct 12 to get 1. You now know the location of the duplicate of his card. In this example, if you get an answer of I, the duplicate of the chosen card is on top of the pack. If he chose the card seventeenth from the top of his heap originally, the duplicate of his card would be fifth from the top of the deck.
Have the spectator call out a number between I and 12. Knowing the location of the duplicate of the chosen card, you can remove cards from the packet in such a waythat the duplicate appears at the number called out by the spectator.
For example, say the spectator looked at the card fifteenth from the top of his packet. He replaced the card, shuffled the packet and buried it in the center of the other packet. Since his number was 15, you know the duplicate of the chosen card is third from the top of the deck.
Place the deck in your pocket. Have the spectator call out any number from 1 to 12. Say he calls out 9. Deal the top two cards of the deck onto the table. Then deal six more cards from the bottom of the deck. Then remove his card from the top of the deck and toss it out face up. This is the ninth card you removed from your pocket and it is the chosen card.
30. "Divino" Notes
To avoid having to subtract 12 from the spectator's first number, arrange the tw:o halves of the deck as suggested by Jordan, but after the spe.ctatorgives the deck several straight cuts at the start of the trick, have him deal the top 25 cards into a heap on the table and place the balance alongSide. Now no matter what number his card is from the top of the first heap, its duplicate will be that same number up from the bottom of the other heap.
Anot?er approach is to use an ordinary deck of 52 cards. Note the
~rst, third, fi~th, seventh ~ards, etc., that is, the cards at odd positions
Inthe deck.
FI?d
the duplicates of these cards in a matching deck and arra~~e them Inthe same order. Note the bottom card of this packet.SayItis the
.A.
Pocket this group of cards.Stacked-DeckTricks 39 Give the spectator the full deck. He turns it face up and gives it any number of straight cuts. Finally ask him to cut the
.A
to the face of the deck as an aid to concentration. When this has been done, he deals the deck into two heaps, alternating a card to each heap until he has dealt through the entire deck. Have him pick up the heap containing the.A,
call out any number from 1 to 26, and note the card at that position in the packet.When he has done this he shuffles this packet into the other half of the deck. Take the shuffled deck and place it in your pocket. Knowing the number, you know the location of the duplicate of the chosen card since it is in the same position in the packet of duplicates.
Remove face-down cards from you r pocket, actually removing them from the packet of duplicates. Go two or three cards past the duplicate of the chosen card, pause, then slide the right card out of the dealt pile and turn it face up_
After the spectator acknowledges that he did indeed choose this card, gather the dealt cards, including the chosen card, return them to the pocket and remove the shuffled deck of 52 cards, leaving the packet of duplicates behind in the pocket. From here you can go on with further tricks.