n Pocket Full of MethodsThere is a perfectly logical reason for why I have presented you with four different ways to performthe same exact force. In the real world, there are as many surprises as there are spectators and inmy experience I have met some crazy laypeople, When asked to choose a card, some will be morethan happy to comply and will be easily persuaded to take a classic force. Others will stare you downlike a hawk and do everything in their power to make sure you can't cheat. Not that this is bad thing;not at all. Spectators like these make life more fun and exciting. But they also make it necessary foryou to know how to force a card in four or four dozen different ways.

In a close-up performance, after the first effect or two I usually have a general idea of the characterand attitude of my spectators. I know who's burning me, who's easily misdirected, who will holdcards withoutturning them over early, and who will rip the cards out of my hands the instant theyget the chance. When spreading cards to have one chosen, for example, there are many possibilities.If you spread out a fan of cards, some people won't say a word and pick one out. Those people areeasy, because you can limit their selection to a spread often or fifteen and t.hey won't think twiceabout it. Others will look at you like you're funny, and tell you to continue spreading forward. Themore audacious of the group won;t even ask, but simply jump at the cards, push over your spread,only to take a card from the bottom or the top.

Once you have an idea of how your spectators act towards you and your cards, and how they willhold or shuffle them if the need arises, now you are ready to select the modus operandi. With the ..undercover force, ifdealing with a picky person, use the cull method that allows the spectator to saystop anywhere in the deck. When dealing with a person who doesn't care where his card comes from,you can just spread the bottom half out and have one touched or spread all the cards above thebreak and force the card that way. Mastering the diffe~entmethods and being able to employ them inthe right situations is what makes a successful close-up card worker.

As far as the Undercover Reverse is concerned, this is a move that can be heavily burned and as long.as you watch the angles from your left, the move will be invisible. The most importantthirig is to beaware of the spectator's interest and attention. Some moves should be done on an off-beat andothers executed while attention is high. Keeping on an equal plane with the spectator's perceptions is .important. You may be light-years ahead of them as far as where the selection has actually beencontrolled to, but if they still think it's out-jogged in the center, then be sure that your words andactions add to their certitude.

The same idea applies to other moves. Knowing when to pass or when to double undercut or when toside steal are all important decisions and there are numerous determining factors that will help youout in performing situations. The more you know and the more prepared you are, the morecomfortable you will feel in performance. And of course, the more you perform and the more you areplaced into tough spots that you have to 'side-steal' your way out of, the more confident you will feel

. in your card magic. ......8

Pasteboard Experiments:

...in order to show how rich this is in ramifications, which then one may,according to one's disposition, play in, as children do in a large and empty house,

or which one may lose oneself in, as older people also do....

The key to making it all look smooth is makingevery tumover look alike. Begin by spreadingthe three cards in your hand. Now square up ,and tum the entire packet over, book fashion, 'allowing it to fall face-up into the left hand.Repeat thesame motion, tuming the packetface-down. Using the left thumb push the topcard half an inch to the right. How the lefthand holds the three cards is unbelievablyimportant here. While the cards rest in adealer's grip position, they are not being heldthe same way. There are only two pressure

Basic 3-Way CountMarlo's original 3-way count, which hasbecome a standard for most packet tricks,goes something like this: The magicianspreads out three cards, he tums over theentire packet to flash the bottom card. Thenhe performs the Henry Christ Alignment Move,showing the same card to be on top, andfinishes by showing the same card in themiddle. While the, move itself will fly, theactual Christ Alignment Move looks quiteawkward. However, replace the AlignmentMove with a Double Deal Tumover, and nowyou're looking smooth and casual. Try it withcards in hand to see the difference.

performer. Doing the move With three cards isa breeze.

Double Deal Turnover with Small PacketThe double deal using a small packet is whatwe are going to concentrate on. You will fmdthat doing the move with a packet of 10 cards,as opposed to 52 is a lot easier. There are lesscards to go around, the technique goes byquicker and smoother, and there is lesschance for flashing at the outer end. Thismakes the execution of the move a morecomfortable and convincing experience for the

Double Deal Turnover with Full DeckThe idea of the Double Deal Tumover is totum over the top and bottom cardsof the deck'as one, making it look as if you just casuallyflipped over the top card. To do this, hold thedeck in left hand dealer's grip. With the leftthumb, push off the top card for about half aninch. Bring the right hand over. The righthand's fingers go underneath the deck andcontact the bottom card. It helps here if thedeck is slightly beveled to the right. The indexfmger of the right hand covers the front of thedeck to ensure no flashing. The thumb andfmgers of the right hand squeeze the top andbottom cards together. The right hand drawsto the right, taking the two cards and slidingthem together. Once the two cards havecleared the deck and have aligned, they are'tumed face-up and allowed to fall book-fashion onto the top of the deck.

A foray into a new move, sleight, or effect is often a: steppingstonejoumey of discovery. Thebasictechnique for the double deal tumover is not new and neither is Krenzel's Slide Under Switch. Jpresent the research I have found at the end, in hopes of clarifying which roads I have taken.However I hope that the combinations, alterations, improvements, and details that I present here willfmd an amiable space in the catalogue of card technique. A year of work, play, and experimentationhas led to these techniques and you will fmd that they are distinctively workable techniques fit forthe demanding card worker. Let's begin with the basic double deal and proceed further tosee whatwe can create and discover. ,

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points that keep the cards in the hand. Thefirst is the index finger, which curls aroundthe front edge of the cards and reaches all theway to the outer right corner. The second isthe inside of the palm, which presses againstthe inner left edge of the cards, all the waydown to the inner left corner. The middle

.fmger of the left hand provides some pressurefrom the bottom of the packet while the leftthumb slides the top card half an inch to theright. As soon as it does so, the middle, ring,and pinky fingers no longer play a role; theyare simply curled underneath the cards. Thisallows the right hand to come over andperform the double deal turnover.

The middle fmger of the right hand goesunderneath the outer right comer to contactthe bottom card. The index finger of the righthand covers the outer edge of the side-joggedcard. It is essentially touching (and evenoverlapping) the left hand's index finger. Thismakes sure there is no flash. The thumb andthe middle finger of the right hand now pinchthe bottom and top cards together and slidethem to the right. The two pressure pointsmade by the left hand keep the .center card inplace. As soon as the edges of the two cards inthe right hand clear the single card remaining

. in the left hand, the double is allowed to fallface-up, book fashion onto the card in the lefthand.

To complete, tum the double card face-downand push the top card off with the left thumbin the same exact way as you did before. Thistime, take the top card with your right handfingers, Now push the middle card off with theleft thumb, contact it from below with the rightindex and middle fmgers, and tum it face-up.Turn the center card face-down and you havenow shown all three cards to be the same.

3-Way Count with Odd CardYou may have noticed that the 3-way countcan be performed without ever flashing the

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back of the card being shown three times. Tomake sure the back never flashes, here is whatyou do: Take out two blue cards and a redcard. Start mit with the red card on thebottom. Tum the entire packet face-up,flashing the face of the card. Tum the packetface-down and perform the double dealturnover, showing the top card to be the same.Tum the double face-down, getting a pinkybreak below it as it falls. Now pinch the doubleat the right side with thumb on top and fingersbelow and drag it over (as a single card) to theright. Once the left edge of the double istouching the right edge of the single card inthe left hand, the pads of the left hand'sfingers will be touching the face of the odd-backed card. Keep the top card ofthe doublein place with the right hand. Tilt the left handso that the card becomes almost perpendicular

. to the floor. With the left hand's fingers putpressure on the face of the odd-card, causingit to instantly tum face-up and land in-between the two face-down cards. The snapturnover happens so fast that the spectatorsnever see the back of the odd card. Thismovement is quite identical to the K.M.Move(Tony KardyrojEdwardMarlo). To tum thecard face-down, bring the right hand's cardover the face-up odd card. Pick up the two ofthem so that they are practically aligned, but

. allow the left index to still be showing. Dragthe two cards until the left hand's fingerscontact the edge of the face-up card. Repeatthe same turnover motion, allowing the topcard to cover the odd card as it turns face-down. While the move is tough to make soundbelievable on paper, experimentation will allow

. you to see that the turnover of the odd cardcan easily be done twice without ever flashingthe odd back.

One-Handed AlignmentThe one-handed alignment move is anexcellent way to get into the double dealturnover. Mastering this technique will allowyou to easily perform the Undercover 3-Way

Undercover 3-Way

Now we're going to do something very sneaky. In order to execute the cleanestSvway display, we aregoing to use a fourth card. S6 pick up four cards (the 4th card can be odd-backed, it doesn't matter),and get ready to jump for joy as you discover the many possibilities that come with this move.

Second Card: The right hand, which holds thetwo cards spread out, comes over to the lefthand, which is holding the double inpreparation for the One-handed Alignment. Asthe two hands come together, the three cardsstill completely spread out, perform the,undercover alignment. The bottom card will

the left thumb to catch it at the left edge. Usethe fingers of the left hand to square the rightedge of the double and squeeze the sideslightly to make sure it doesn't split. Now turnthe double face-down and catch it in the sameway.

You will notice that the kicking of the bottomcard with the left hand is the same motionused in the Undercover Force, except you arenow only using three cards instead of a largespread. The kick and alignment is dorie in less,than a second. Now you can turn the doubleface-down and firiish the 3-way display.'

Having gotten the preliminary warm-ups out ofthe way, we are now ready to experimentfurther.

of the left hand are contacting the face of thebottom card. If those three fingers now extend,they will kick out the bottom card to the right.The card will slide, using the index finger atthe front as a guide, and will align itselfperfectly with the top card. The right hand,which is pinching that top card willautomatically pinch the bottom card as well,now, and will draw both to the right, turningthem face-up once their edges have cleared thecenter card.

First Card: Allow the left edge of the double tocontact the fingers of the left hand. Turn thedouble over, book-wise. As it falls face-up, use

Hold all four cards squared in the left hand.'Push the top card off to the right and take itwith the right hand. Push off the next cardand take it in the right hand underneath thefirat, spread to the left. Now using the righthand pinch the double and pick it up,counting it as 'three.' You are now holding a

,fan of ?three? cards in the right hand. Runyour left thumb over the cards; snapping theiredges, audibly proving their singularity.

The thumb is resting on top. The left indexfinger is curled around the outer edge of thetwo cards. The middle, ring, and pinkie fingers '

Begin once again with three cards in yourhand. If you like, turn the packet over,showing the bottom card. Now turn the packetface-down, thumb over the top card and take itwith the right hand. You are going to delay thedouble deal tumover. You can either give thecard in the right hand a little spin, or use theleft thumb to snap its outer left corner. Theidea here is to subtly emphasize thesingularity of the card without saying "I haveone card." Now bring the right hand down so'that the card is pressed flat against the twocards in the left hand, but so it is right-joggedfor half of its width. The left hands holds thetwo cards just as it did before, however thistime the left hand fingers will do all of thework from below.

Count as well as the Undercover Double.

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slide undemeath the fan and align itself withthe middle card. The fingers of the right handwill pinch the double from below, and thethumb, which is above all the cards, will pressdown from above. Pinch the center and thebottom card together and use the right handto slide them to the right until they clear the

. single card in the left hand. Allow the doubleto fall face-up. You have now shown the odd

card twice.

Third Card: Turn the double face-down. As itfalls, get a pinky break below it. The left handnow holds three cards with a pinky breakabove the bottom one. The right hand, holdinga single card, comes over towards the lefthand. The right hand brings its card so it isflat against the cards in the left hand, butside-jogged to the right for half its width. Youcan now do one of two things. You can perform .the One Handed Undercover Alignment moveonce more,sliding out the center card from the

left packet and allowing it to align with the topcard being held by the right hand. Or you cando the regular Double Deal Turnover, byallowing the index and middle fingers of theright hand to go into the break (below the oddcard), grasp it from below and pull it out,aligning it with the top card. Play with bothtechniques to see what you feel morecomfortable with. Either technique you use, inthe eyes of the spectators the same thing isachieved: the third, top card is tumed overand shown to be identical to the bottom andthe middle cards.

It is important to note that the hands neverseparate far from each other. Each time a cardis tumedover in the left hand the right handstays in close proximity. If the right handtravels too far after it tums a card face-down

. in the left hand, then it will have no reason tocome back over to tum the next card face-up.

Undercover Double Turnover

......I am sure you will have noticed by now that all of the moves and ideas presented so far belong to thesame family tree. Moreover, they also closely resemble the technique of the Undercover Force. The

. principle of the undercover alignment brings them all together. Let us now expand on the use of theundercover alignment move and see how the one-handed undercover alignment can be put to usewhen a full deck is in play.:

The basic technique I am about to describe is Ken Krenzel's Slide Under Switch, but performed withone card. This switch is clean, smooth, and devious. However, the technique needed to switch onecard is distinctively different from the technique used to switch out a four of a kind. With a group ofcards, there are little worries of flashing, because the loose spread of cards on top of the deck coverseverything. With one card, there is no room for flashing: the cards must be perfectly aligned beforethey are turned over. So, grab a deck, and let's play with this...

second card of the deck. The hands are heldclose together, so that the left thumb can snapthe outer left comer of the card held by theright hand. The right hand now comes downso that its card is laying flat against the deckbut side-jogged for half its width to the right.

The deck is held in left hand dealer's grip. Thethumb pushes off the top few cards so that theright hand can pick up the top card. Once thetop card has been taken, the thumb pulls thetop few cards back to square the deck. As itdoes so, the pinky gets a break below the

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The left hand's pinky now extends outwards.In doing so, it kicks out the second card of the .deck. That card will slide to the right, underthe cover of the card held in the right hand.Once the two cards have aligned, the righthand will pinch them and pull them to theright. Once the double clears the top card ofthe deck, the right hand allows it to fall face-up onto the deck. That's the basic technique.Try it several times, but don't put down thisbooklet just yet, because I have left out themost important part. If you try the techniquenow, you may find some difficulty in gettingthe two cards to align perfectly. The key to aperfect alignment is the left thumb.'.

Brent Boyko's Undercover Midas Touch:At the same time that the pinky is kicking thecard out from below, the left thumb needs tobe resting on top of the deck. As the pinky

kicks, use the left thumb to pull the top cardhalf an inch to the left. At the same time, movethe single card in the right hand to the left aswell, so that it is perfectly aligned with thedeck. This may seem weird at first, but if youlook closely at the deck you will find out whatis happening. From the top, itwil1look likenothing happens. Because the top card movesto the left, the spectators cannot see that thecard in the right hand is perfectly aligned Withthe deck. To them it will stil1look like it isside-jogged to the right. Since the right hand'scard is practically aligned with the deck (itdoesn't have to be all the way), the pinky doesnot have to kick out very far. In fact, you willfind that all you really have to do is pinch thecard above the pinky break with the righthand fingers from below and you will easily beable to align the double, slide it to the right,and turn it face-up.

Undercover Switch

The original Ken Krenzel move was used to switch four cards for four cards. The right hand held itsfour cards face-up, turned them face-down, performing the undercover alignment, and then spreadover the top four cards to either insert them into different parts of the deck or show that the fourcards have changed into the four aces. You will findthat if you turn the second card from the top ofthe deck face-up, you are now set-up for the same exact switch using a single card;

Uses: So I am sure you are asking yourself why you need to perform this kind of double, instead of aregular double lift. Well, ~ hope the effects found in this booklet will be reason enough, but I'll throwout some basic points. First and foremost; you can have an odd backed card sitting second from thetop of the deck. Now you can have a card touched and taken out. Perform the Undercover Doubleand the spectator is now signing the face of the odd-backed card. Second, because the card held inthe right hand before the double is a single one, you have freedom to move it around, spin it on yourfingers, or do a little tap dance with it. The spectators may not be aware of exactly why this doubleturnover looks so clean, but the casualness of the entire procedure will have an impact on them,trust me. Here are a few other ideas:

thumb is unbelievably important. To thespectators it will look like the card was neverfully aligned with the deck. Even though it getsaligned for a split second when it turns face-down and before it gets taken back by theright hand, that movement is so brief that itdoes not affect the clean look of-the double.

Take out any card from the deck with the righthand, give it a spin, and then perform theactions of the Undercover Double. Theadvantage here is great. You are able to takeout a single card, give it a spin and a snap,then casually turn it face-down and show thatit has changed. The Midas Touch with the left

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Undercover Convincers:

Let's say you wanted to convince a spectator that he picked a red backed card from a red backeddeck, but only had one blue deck and one red card to do it with.

Replacement Move:

..,. ..The replacement move is a quick and easy technique that allows your card handling to look extraclean and crisp. First, I'll describe the replacement move with a small packet, and then using a fulldeck.

For a split second you are going to carry the

the right hand, pinch the double with thethumb above and fingers below and carry it tothe right. With the left thumb you can snapthe double, being careful not to let it split.

What if you have two red backed cards? Thenplace one of them on top of the blue-backeddeck, and place the other second from thebottom. Begin by taking the deck out of a redcase. Allow the spectators to register the visualwithout saying a word. Turn the deck face-upand spread it out, askingthem to touch acard. Out-jog-that card and take it out of thespread. Allow the spectator to sign the face ofthe card. Now keeping the deck face-up in theleft hand and the selected card in the righthand, blow on it or wave it in the air, withoutflashing its back. Get a pinky breakunderneath the second card of the deck and .as you bring your hands together perform theundercover alignment and tum the doubleface-down, showing its red back. Now pick thedouble up in the right hand Biddle Grip andbring it up to your mouth to blow on thesignature. The left hand, meanwhile, turns thedeck over in its hand and when the handsmeet again, the spectators see two red backs.They need nothing more to be convinced.Where you go from there is up to you...

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Packet Replacement, Face-Up: Begin withfour cards in your hand. When used as part ofa routine, you will frrst perform the undercover3-way display. Once you have turned over thethird card you willhave two cards face-up andtwo cards face-down in your left hand. With

Begin by placing the red-backed card on top ofthe blue deck and placing the deck into a redcard case. Now bring out the red case, takeout the cards so the spectators are looking atthe red back. This is literally all the convictionyou need. There is no need to say anything orpoint it out. If you concentrate on the takingout of the cards, the spectators will follow yourgaze and automatically register in their mindsthat you have a red deck. Unless they haveseen you change the color of cards before, theywill not be suspicious. Now turn the deck face- .up and spread it between your hands. Getready to perform the Undercover Force. Ask aspectator to point toa card-. Once he does,perform the alignment and turnover move,flashing a red back, saying "OK, we'll takethe... " Tum the double back face-up and cullout the red-backed card from underneath theselection. Drop the selected card onto the tableto have it signed or simply leave it out-jogged.Control the culled red-backed card to thebottom of the face-up deck Now you can takeout the selection and spin it in your right handface-up, while the left hand turns over thedeck to flash another red back.

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face-up double so that its left edge is directlyundemeath the right edge of the two face-down cards in the left hand, covered for abouthalf an inch. In the second that the face-updouble is undemeath the left hand's cards, thefingers of the right hand extend outwardswhile the right hand's thumb pulls inwards.The bottom card of the face-up double willslide to the left, covered by the left hand'scards. At the same time the fmgers of the lefthand extend outwards and wrap themselvesaround the three cards, squaring up all ofthem. The right hand moves back to the right, .now holding only a single card. Immediatelythe left thumb snaps the outer left comer ofthe face-up card, as it was doing a second ago.

.The choreography here is important. Thedouble is face-up, it gets picked up, snapped afew times by the left hand. Then it goesundemeath the packet where the packet itselfis actually used to snap its side. Immediatelythe left thumb snaps the card again severaltimes. The card goes undemeath the packet,but the spectators never register this fact. It isinstant and quite invisible.

Now that the right hand has a single card, itcan spin it in its hand or drop it onto thetable. When you are ready,you can pick thecard back up and perform a: double dealtumover, allowing the face-up card on thebottom of the packet to align itself with. theface-up card in the right hand. The double istumed back face-down and you are ready toproceed wherever you feel like proceeding to.

Packet Replacement, Face-down: Whendone face-down, the move allows you to showone card in the hand but instantly be holdinganother one. Have the four cards in your handwith the top two face-up. Bring the right hand

over, but pick up the top two cards with thethumb below andjingers above. Now tum yourright hand palm-up, twisting your wrist andtuming the double face-down, still keeping itpinched. Perform the replacement move,ditching the bottom card of the double. Thecard that the spectators had seen a secondago is now on the bottom of the left handpacket. You can do several things here,depending on the effect. Ifused as part of a 3-way count, you can tilt the left wrist to flashthe bottom card showing the same card for thefourth time. Or, as you will see I have done insome of the effects in these notes, you canhave the spectator place their hand onto thecard in your right hand, which now changes

. .into a different card.

Full DeckReplacement: Start out with thedeck in your left hand. Perform a double

. tumover, allowing the double to fall face-up ontop of the deck, catching a pinky break belowit. Pick up the double with the right hand..With the left handget a pinky break below the

. top card of the deck. You are now going toperform the same exact actions of the packetreplacement, except the bottom card of theface-up double is going to slide undemeath

. the top face-down card of the deck. Placing thedouble into the deck for half an inch mightseem awkward, but when done at full speed itis a casual gesture that goes unnoticed. To thespectators it will look like you are simply usingthe left thumb to snap the card a few times,then wipe its face. All of this is simply provingthe singularity of the card without saying aword. Once you have ditched the face-up cardyou can spin the single card in your righthand, snapit a few times, and then perform..the Undercover Double to switch the one cardfor the other.

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Work to Play

I hope you have enjoyed this little experimental journey with the pasteboards and have foundsomething to your liking. Everything I have just described took months and months of play to figureout. Nothing came at once; the details came about slowly through diligent practice and constantplay. I do not exaggerate when I say that after creating it, I spent four straight months, at least adozen hours a week, practicing the undercover 3-way display, before showing it to anyone. Theundercover double tookjust as long, if not longer, to feel comfortable with and I have to say that Ilearned many interesting things over this time, both about the cards and about myself.

The hours (in movie theatres, cars, classrooms, etc) I spent working on these moves until I feltcomfortable with them were of great value. But when it came time to use them in the real world, Ibecame unbelievably nervous and couldn't do them smoothly. I found that I had gotten so used toperforming them in perfect silence and with full concentration that when I had an audience in frontof me, I couldn't concentrate on my fingers and therefore could not execute the moves perfectly. Itwasn't until I forced myselfto get over the nervousnesa and start using the moves all the time inregular performances thai they started to look good.

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The UndercoverSequence:

To facilitate the learning of all these moves, I now present the first sequence that I created, whichutilizes practically all of the moves so far described. While the sequence can be performed for a realaudience as an effect, you mayjustlike performing it for yourself, as a fun exercise.

All Backs Sequence: The undercover 3-wayallows you to perform the absolute cleanestall-backs display. There is no need to flip overthe cards twice. Start out by spreading thefour cards as three, keeping the last twotogether. Turn the double over, showing backson both sides. Perform the alignment move,tuming over the second and bottom cards

ace face-down, immediately after ditching thecard. To the spectators it should look just as ifyou snapped the ace then turned it face-down.You will now have FD ace, two FD selectionsand a third selection FU.

All Aces: Perform the Undercover 3-Way,showing all three cards to be the Ace. Onceyou have turned over the third card, leave thedouble face-up. Pick it up with the right hand,thumb on top and fmgers below. Snap thecard, then perform the undercoverreplacement, ditching the face-up selectionthat was below the jack so that it is now onthe bottom of the left hand's packet. Turn the

Start out with four cards in your hand. If youare doing this as an effect, then the top threeare three signed selections and the bottom oneis an ace of spades.

I am not saying that you should go out performing these moves. before having mastered themperfectly. But I do suggest this: be sure that you don't just isolate these moves, getting used toaligning cards in quiet solitude so that you feel awkward doing them in real life, like I did at first.Instead use them constantly in your performances so that you become comfortable talking andmoving the cards at the same time.

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Performance: If you actually decide to do this for a real audience (as opposed to those fake,cardboard ones) then start out with the deck in hand. Perform a double turnover, showing anace of spades. Tum the double face-down and take the top card (calling it the ace) and place itinto your pocket. Have three cards selected and control them to the bottom, keeping the ace ontop. Now pass or double undercut the ace from the top to the bottom of the deck and get abreak under the bottom four cards. Spread through the deck and out-jog three cards. Pick uphalf of the spread (with the out-jogged cards) in the right hand, leaving the bottom ten or socards in the left hand. Tum the right hand palm down so that the spectators see that the threecards you out-jogged are not theirs. Now strip those cards out, performing the Vemon Strip-Out Addition. Perform the Dingle NoLap Switch, so you now have the four cards in your hand: .the three selections and the ace at the bottom.

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together, showing the center card to have allbacks. Finish by doing the move again, thistime tuming over the top and third cardstogether, showing the top card to have allbacks. The packet will now have FD selection,FU ace, two FD selections. (Ain't it a beauty?)

Card #1: Pick up the double and dothereplacement move, ditching the face-up ace sothat it is on the. bottom of the left hand'spacket. Spin the single card in your right handand show it to be one of the selections.

Card #2: Pick up all three cards in the righthand, pinching them with the thumb aboveand fingers below: There are two' things youcan do here. The first is simple and flies bypeople easily. The second one is complex andhard and I recommend doing it duringpractice, but not in performance.

Option #1: Push the bottom two cards of thethree with the right fingers, pulling the topcard back with the thumb. Allow those bottomtwo cards to tum over and fall into the lefthand, showing that both sides of the bottomcard are backs. Now simply give the card inthe right hand a spin. As it spins, tum the lefthand palm-down, flashing another back. Pinchthe card in the right hand with the palm-downfingers of the left hand. Now tum.the left handwith the card palm-up, showing that the cardthat you were just spinning has now changedinto a selection.

Option #2: Push the bottom two cards of thethree with the right fingers, pulling the topcard back with the thumb. Allow those bottomtwo cards to tum over and fall into the lefthand, showing that both sides of the bottomcard are backs. Bring the hands together, dothe one handed alignment and tum over thetop card to show it has all backs. Do thereplacement move to ditch the card back tothe left hand. Spin the remaining card in theright hand; tum it over to show the selection.

Card #3: You have a double in your hand,with the ace face-down and selection on top.Snap the card in your fingers, showing backson both sides. You can do a series of moves. Irecommend the Stuart Gordon Double .Tumover, because it looks smooth. I alsorecommend the Paul Harris Splatt Change,

. where the card is held in the right hand by itsedges and is made to flip over as it flies intoyour open left hand. Whichever moves you do,finish with the ace face-up below a face-downselection. Hold the double in your left hand..Bring the right hand over and palm out theface-up ace. Bring your hand over the face-down card and instantly change it into theace. Instead of palming out the card, you canexecute the Ross Bertram color change, aswell. Finish by performing another snapchange or Marc DeSouza's Shape Shifter totum the ace into the third selection.

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Now touch each card to your pocket before you tum it over to show that the ace travels fromyour pocket and becomes each of the three cards. Then show how it slowly starts morphing soit has no face. And finally, show how each of the aces magically changes into a selection,except for the last one, which is a bit stubborn and takes a little extra magic. Finish byproducing the ace Hom the pocket you had originally placed it into. Smile and breathe.

In performance, the spectators expect the last card to be the selection, so that when the ace. appears they are thrown off. Allow them enough time to realize that fact, then perform thechange, producing their selection. Now you can cop or palm out the ace and produce it fromyour pocket or the card box.

.~ ..References, Resources and Reflections

In the critics' vocabulary, the word "precursOr" is indispensable, but it should be cleansed

of 'oJJconnotatioo'ofpolemics orfivaJry. Thefactis that ,every'Wfitercreates ohis ownPF6CUrsOfs.

His work modifies our conception of the past, as It will modify the future.

- Jorge.louis.borges

:> . The Marlo 3-Way Count can be found in Ibidem 15, December 1958.:> The idea of using the double deal turnover instead of the Christ Alignment move during the

3-Way Count was something I -discovered while playing with the move. Allan Ackerman

uses the Double Deal in a trick called "Some More Blues," page 39-44 from his book "Las

Vegas Kardma". Ackermanalso uses the double deal in a trick called" A Quick Three way

moment" from "I can't believe it's not all cards lecture tour", Summer 1997, page 27-30. In

his own words: "The same as Marlo's original Quick Three Way...This new handling uses

. the same sequence, but ,eliminates the horrid Christ-Anneman Allignment mo.veand also

takes the heat off the double deal."

:> Another interesting source was pointed out by David Michael Evans, who says: "Kabbala -Vol. 3, No.6 (1976), pp. 78-79, "New Quick 3-Way" is the earliest thing I can recall in which,

Marlo's sequence is mentioned in conjunction with the Double Deal."

> Victor Tabucco's "Three Alike," is another published method, which can be foundonpg.37of "Fork Full of Appetizers - Book 1." I have been told that he executes the move beautifully.

> Using the double deal tumover instead of the Gemini Count was also something Idiscovered in play. The idea here is to use four cards: perform a triple tumover, then tum

the triple face-down, dealing the top cardto the table. Now perform a double deal tumover,

tum the double face-downanddeal the top .card to the table as well. The two .cards you

showed have remained in your hand. This technique appears in Paul Wilson's "Alias the

Aces" and I am sure that many others have thought of it, as well.

> For further reading on the double deal turnover, I recommend R. Paul Wilson's ESOTERICA

18

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ONE, which contains several great effects using the move. While I have not studied it, Jerry

Sadowitz's work is also highly recommended by many.

~ A different method for fanning a: small group of cards and aligning the bottom one with thechosen one can also be found in the write up of the "Chick Trick," which is one of the

booklets included in the Ron Bauer Private Studies Series.

~ The beautiful and very useful Ken Krenzel Slide Under Switch can be found on page 246 of

Karl Fulves' "Epilogue." In FASDIU II, Paul Cummins notes that the switch has its roots in

a Bill Okal switch.

~ The idea of using the pinky to kick out the four cards to be switched during the Slide Under -

Switch was something I independently discovered shortly after learning the Krenzel move

many years ago. Recently, it was pointed out to me that Barry Price published the same

idea on pg. 177 of David Regal's "Close-Up and Personal" under the title "Price's Stealth

Switch."

~ The actions of your hands during the execution of the Undercover Double are similar to

"The Secondfromthetop Change," from Richard Kaufman's "Cardmaqic." (Kaufman, 1979) It

is interesting to note that Kaufman says he rediscovered this move because"Ken Krenzel .

.and Bill Simon fooled around with itin the late fifties." If you were to look at illustration

#285 on pg.85 of Cardmagic, you would see the Secondfromthetop change paused in

action. This, in fact, is almosthow the hands look when they meet for the undercover

double, except of course, for the Midas Touch which requires for the top card to be left-

jogged instead of being perfectly aligned, as in the top change.

~ The Midas Touch that makes the undercover double so perfect was suggested by Brent

Boyko, a young Orlando magician and a good friend of mine. Remember Brent...always

fmish with an'S' Fan.

...What in certain aspects, makes this a playground

iswhat also makes it a labyrinth... - o.k.bouwsma

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19

Repeat this motion, peeling the third card intothe left hand. Each time, be sure to mimic thesame action, allowirig the left hand to goalmost completely below the deck. This is .important, because when you come back topeel the fourth card, you are going to leave thethree indifferent cards above your pinky breakat the bottom of the deck. The right hand willaid this by squeezing the deck at the outer andinner ends, grasping the three cards fromabove.

Without pause, the left hand comes back topeel off the second card. In order to do this,the left hand must come back all the wayunderneath the deck, place its thumb on topof the out-jogged card, and peel it off onto thefour cards (one to the audience) already in thehand.

fluidity of the motions will also help cover anythickness.

Streamlined SwitchB.).Bueno & Kostya Kimlat

Face-down Switch

While still holding onto the deck with the lefthand from below, bring over the right hand to .take the deck into Biddle grip. Doing so willkick the out-jogged cards slightly to the left.You are now going to perform the basic VernonStrip-Out Addition, but with an extra detail:the out-jogged cards are going to be taken outof the deck and into the left hand one at atime*, as opposed to all four being taken asone block.

Begin with three kings on the bottom ora face-down deck. Have the fourth king anywhere inthe lower part of the deck with a pinky breakbelow it. Spread the deck and have a card

. touched. Leave that card out-jogged, stickingout for about half of its length. Have two morecards touched and leave them out-jogged, aswell. As you have afourth card touched,classic force the king above your pinky break.As you close the spread get a pinky breakabove the three bottom kings.

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~ You can begin with all four kings on the bottom of the deck. As you spread the deck for thefirst time, cull out one of the kings, reinsert it in the lower part of the deck and catch apinky break. Now you are ready to proceed.

~ After pulling off the first card and booing your hand back to peel off the second one, usethe left index finger to lightly tap the three out-jogged cards back into the deck. This makes

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The right hand, holding the deck in Biddlegrip, remains stationary. The left hand, takingthe three kings below the pinky break, movesforward underneath the deck. The left thumbpeels the top out-jogged card out of the deckand into the left hand, covering the threekings. Be sure to catch a pinky break betweenthe kings and the card at the back, whilemaking sure the thickness of the packet is notseen at the front by curling the left indexfinger around the front edge. With a mirror,you will see this is easier than it seems. The

The taking of the fourth card should look,. sound, and feel exactlyas it has the last three

times. There should be no hesitation and thedrop-off should be smooth. The fourth card ispeeled into the left hand on top of the three

. kings. Be sure that the hands do not cometogether again. The right hand can nowdeposit the deck onto the table, while the lefthand can either tum over the four cards todisplay that the spectators chose the fourkings, or proceed into whatever routine isneeded.

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sure that the left hand has to come all the way back to take the last card, and it does notlook awkward while trying to ditch the indifferent cards above the break.Waiting to classic force the fourth card may be a bit risky, as the spectators are oftencareful about which cards they pick, especially when all emphasis is on the choosing.Therefore, I recommend forcing the king on the third time, as this is when the spectatorsare least likely to pay attention. Once the card has been forced and you have three cardsout-jogged, close the spread, and then, as if the idea just came to you, re-spread the cardsand ask the spectator to touch just one more. At this point, make sure he touches a cardanywhere in the deck, but not below the out-jogged king. Proceed with the switch asdescribed.The psychology of 'card selection' may go something like this: The spectator is asked to

. touch one card, which he does carefully, being very particular about his choice. Now he is

. asked to touch another one. He is surprised that he is asked to touch two and so willcarefully point to a second one. When he is asked to touch a third one, he understands thatthis may go on for a little while and so has less reserve about which card he picks, makinghim an easier target for a classic force. Finally, when he is told to 'touch just one more,' herealizes this is the end and will once again be paying more attention.Over-analyzation?Maybe, maybe not.If you wish to avoid the classic force entirely, here is something to play with: have all fourkings on the bottom of the deck. After two cards have been touched and out-jogged, cull outone of the kings from the bottom. Have a third card touched and out-jogged, while allowingthe king to ride underneath the spread. Have a fourth card touched, but as you bring theright hand overto out-jog it, switch it out by allowing the culled king to kick out fromunderneath the right hand's spread and land directly above it. Continue the movement ofout-jogging the card as if nothing has happened. Itwill aid to relax the spectatorsimmediately after they have touched the last card. A laugh or a question will have themlook up to look at you. Since they have already seen the same motions done three times, aslong as nothing fishy happens in their periphery, then the sWitch will go unnoticed. Nowyou can bring their attention back to the deck as you perform the Streamlined Switch.When done right,theswitchcan be directly burned and no one will be the wiser.This switch came about after years of using the Derek Dingle No-Lap Switch (CompleteWorks of Derek Dingle) While Dingle's switch is great, the bringing of the hands together toget rid of the extra cards always felt dirty. While this switch eliminates that kind of ditch, itdoes add an extra card to the group. This is an advantage for some routines and not forothers.*The idea of peeling the out-jogged cards off singularly was created independently by B.J.and published as part of "Catch-##" in "Magic: Experiments..." French magician, Bebel,also developed it independently, but has not yet published it. This switch slowly developedduring a series of sessions with my good friend, B.J.Bueno and I thank him for allowing itto be publish here.

~ There are numerous ways of incorporating the switch into your routines. Ifyou play withthe different possibilities (with deck face-up, face-down, cards reversed, larger or smallergroups of cards, etc...) you will find that the switch is unbelievably useful

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Face-up Switch

This is a great way to use the switch to get intoan assembly routine. It is also a perfectsubstitute for the usual move, where themagician has to strip out the four ofa kindfirst, then drop them on top of the deck then

.show them again and again,as if thespectators still don't realize which cardsthey're looking at.

Begin with a shuffled deck. Spread through,out-jogging the four kings (or whichever four ofa kind you need. As you close the spread,catch a break underneath the bottom threecards. Now perform the Streamlined SWitch.This wi1lleave three of the kings on the bottomof the deck. In your left hand you will nowhave one face-up king followed by three face-up indifferent cards. Feel free to make thekings assemble, appear, disappear; transform,or anything else your magical heart desires.

Half and Half

Have two cards selected and controlled to thetop. Turn the deck face-up and spread.through, out-jogging the four aces, makingsure that the top two are one color and thebottom two the other. As you close the spread,get a break above the bottom two cards. Dothe Vernon Strip-Out Addition, peeling thefirst ace onto the two cards hidden in your lefthand. Bring the left hand back and peel thesecond ace on top. As you come back to peelthe third ace, allow the two aces above thepinky break to be picked up by the right hand.Finish by openly (yet still mimicking the sameaction) peeling the last ace into the hand. Dropthe deck on the table and then turn the fourcards in your hand face-down. Now performBro. John Hamman's Gemini Count, askingthe two spectators to place their hands on topof two of the aces. Snap your fingers and turnyour cards back over to show you've got the

22

aces. Build up the tension by asking themwhat they think they have. They will reply 'theother aces.' During this time, casually pick thedeck back up into the hands. Tell them to turntheir cards over, which they do to find theirrespective selections. As they react, palm offthe top two cards of the deck (the other aces)and produce them from your pocket. This isyet another version of a trick I published in aLinking Ring (September, 1998: "Joker Aces")and which I stillperform to this day.

Jack Parker'sDirect Transformation

Doingthe switch face-down allows you tocreate the effect that the spectators somehowhappened to touch the only four cards in thedeck that were kings. In the following version,you actually do the. magic to change four

. indifferent cards into the four kings.

Have the four kings on the bottom of a face-updeck, with a pinky break above them. Havefour indifferent cards touched and leave themout-jogged. Perform the Streamlined Switch,leaving the first three indifferent cards on thebottom of the deck and taking the fourthindifferent cMd with the four kings below intothe left hand.' Table the deck and turn all five.cards face-down in your .hand. Reverse countthe cards one at a time, keeping the last twopinched together, counting them as 'one.' Do athrough-the-fist flourish or just turn themover and perform a buckle count: push off thefirst two cards individually into the right hand,then buckle the bottom card and take thethird and fourth cards as one, and fmish bypushing off the last single king. Alternatively,when reverse counting the cards face-down,peel off the first two singularly, then push off adouble (as per the Elmsley Count), and thenplace .the last card (the indifferent one) on top.Now turn the cards over and push the cardsoff singularly, keeping the last two together,displaying the four kings. You can now either

Aaron Shields'Flash-Free NoLap Switch

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cop out the indifferent card or use it go getinto another routine, such as an all timefavorite of many close-up magicians, the

Jennings Open Travelers or the P.R. InvisiblePalm.

fjThis is a great technical addition to the NoLap switch. This technique can just as.well be used withthe Streamlined Switch to eliminate a possibility of a flash at the beginning. Aaron writes:

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This is my handling of Derek Dingle's NoLap Switch, Second Application, that I call the Flash-FreeNoLap Switch. Everyone I see execute Dingle's move tends to flash the bottom packet while strippingit away from the deck. In order for the packet to clear the second fmger at the end of the deck, itmust either swing too far to the left (flashing on the left) or slide too far forward (flashing on theright). 'My only contribution is the technique for aligning the cards prior to their removal. For theoriginal move, see: Richard Kaufman. The Complete Works ofDerek Dingle (1982),pp. 85-86.

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Place the aces on the bottom ofthe deck.Spread through the deck out-jogging fourcards. Closethe spread, getting a break abovethe four aces on the bottom of the deck withthe left pinky. Start to move the right handover the deck in Biddle grip. As the right handcovers the deck, pull down on the left edge ofthe cards below the break and hook the leftindex fmger on those cards at outer rightcomer, on the right edge. As you grab thedeck ill Biddle grip use the right middle fmgerto kick the out-jogged cards to the left, inorder to make room for the finger along theouter edge ofthe deck. Under cover of thisaction, pull the bottom four cards out and tothe left, using the left index fmger. This actionwill cause the inlier right comer of the cards todisengage from the pinky and end up betweenthe left middle and ring fingers. Moreimportantly the long edges of the cards will bein line with those of the out-jogged cards. Theright middle fmgerand the left index movesimultaneously during these actions.

To complete the Dingle Switch, holding ontothe cards below the deck with the left hand,

slide the hand forward until the shortedges ofboth groups align. Strip out the cards from thecenter of the deck, catching a left pinky break

. in-between the aces and the indifferent cardsfrom the center.

Begin to move the left hand inward and theright hand outward to set the deck onto thetable. As the right hand passes over the left,pull downon the cards below the break withthe left fourth fmger and contact the cardsabove the break with the right thumb.Continue moving the hands past each other,adding the cards above the break to thebottom of the deck. Set the deck onto thetable. There should be no hesitation while the.hands cross each other and the cards arestolen.

If using the Streamlined Switch, then afterperforming the Allignment, pull the single top .'card onto the four aces in the left hand,keeping a pinky break, then go back to peel offthe other cards, one by one, performing theditch on the last one..

23

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CARD

"It is precisely play and play alone,which of all man's states and conditions

is the one which makes him wholeand unfolds both sides of his nature at once,"

-friedrich.Yon.schiller

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AMBITIOUS EGO

r-l selected and signed card tenaciously travels to the top of the deck, changes its texture, and itsbnsion, all to the audience's delight.

:Setup: You need a red backed deck and onei blue backed card or vise-versa. From the top

of the deck down, the setup is: FD red backedI bard, FD blue backed card, FU card, FU card,'! }est of deck face down. Yau also need a ..

sharpie in a pocket that can be reached with'~1\ the right hand or left foot.: I'. -

1. You know, some magicians might haver:you cut to a card or have you deal down to1 lone, but I'm just going to have you point to

l.-any card that looks go.od to you. Spread theicards out between your hands (careful to notflash the top stock) and have a card touched.

f.lout-jOg the card and then close the spread.1 Some magicians will have you just.. remember your card, but I'm going to haver/you actually sign your name on it. Withl..Iyour right hand reach into your pocket and

take out a Sharpie. As you do this, use yourf ileft hand to pinky count and get a break underUthe top two cards.

J I2. Hand the marker to the spectator and asUthey take off the cap, use your right hand to

strip out the out-jogged card. Bring the handstogether in the act of snapping the corner ofthe selected card with your left thumb ~dperform the Undercover Double, aligning the

LJ face-down red-backed card with the blue- .backed card second from the top of the deck.Turn the double over and have the spectator

Usign his name on it.3. Pinch the double with the right hand and

LJ pick it up. Hold it in front of your face so thatthe spectators are reinforced with the image ofthe red back, and blow on the signature, "tomake sure it is dry." As you blow on thecard, use your left hand to pinky count (or usethe natural break of the cards) to get a break

27

underneath the top three cards of the deck.There are about one hundred and fourmagicians out there that can do this trickright here. Bring the double back dOwntowards the deck and perform the undercoveralignment move once more, this time aligningfour cards together (the double in your handand the two face-up cards of the deck). Besure to use the left thumb to slide the top cardto the left: this will ensure that the cards arecleanly squared. Perform a quadrupleturnover, letting all four cards fall face-downas one block. You might think the thickness ofthe packet will give it away, but when donesmoothly and with confidence, you havenothing to worry about.

4. They will take your card and insert it.into the center of the deck, and with awave of their wands or a sneeze of theirnose, they will make it somehow,magically, impossibly, cavort its way up tothe top. Take the top card and insert it intothe center of the deck. Snap your fmgers, andperform a triple lift, showing the signedselection has returned to the top.

5. Fifty-five ofthem won't repeat the trickbecause they're afraid you might catchthem, but the other forty-nine are the realprofessionals. They'll do it again with noworries. They'll place your card back intothe center. Turn the triple face-down andplace the top card into the middle of the deck.They'll show you that it hasn't happenedyet. Perform a triple turnover, showing anindifferent card, then turn the triple backdown. And then with a wiggle of their earsand toes (pause for a few seconds and act likeyou're concentrating real hard; really wigglingyour toes and ears adds a layer of conviction)

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they'll make it levitate back to the top ofthe universe. Perform a double turnovershowing the card has returned. Leave thedouble face-up and do a little jig if you likewhile your audience throws nickels at you.

6. Now there are about twenty magiciansthat have mastered the art of cardchanging. With their bare hands they canactually alter the ink molecules on the faceof a card, so that it starts to look different.With the double face-up on top of the deck andyour pinky holding a break below, bring yourright hand over so that its left edge is touchingthe right edge of the deck. Use your left pinkyto kick out the second face-up card into thepalm of your right hand. Replace the card ontop of the deck as your right hand fingers give .the deck a riffle at its outer end. The changeshould be visually startling. If you're notcomfortable with a palm like that, then youcan do the Erdnase Color Change instead.Either way, you should now have anindifferent red backed card on top, and thesigned blue-backed selection below, both cardsface-up on top of the face-down deck.

7. Out of those twenty, there are six thatcan cause the tension of a card to changeso that its back becomes different as well.Perform a snap change or Mark DeSouza'sShape Shifter change to produce a blue-back.The shape-shifter change requires you tosqueeze two of the comers of the cards, so the'tension' line works real well. Alternatively youcan just tum the double face-down but thatlacks the excitement that your audience islooking for. Tum the double over a couple oftimes so that the audience sees the indifferentcard with a blue back. Finally tum the doubleface-down and thumb over the top card(selection) into your right hand.

8. But there's only one magician that cando this next thing, and I've been looking forhim for ten years, because I can't figure out

. how the hell... Give the blue card a little spinor a snap with your right hand, building upmore suspense ... he makes that blue cardyours. Tum the cardface-up and celebratecause life is short but sweet for certain.

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EGOISTIC. AFTERTHOUGHTS:~ When performing the Undercover Move the second time toalign the two face-up cards in the deck

with the double pinched in the right hand (Step 3), youmay find that only one of the two face-up .cards will slide out and the upper one wili stick to the top face-down card of the deck. Sometimesyou may not even know that this has happened until you perform your triple lift and then it's allover. To ensure that this doesn't happen, you can do a few things: First off, use a new deck ascards will be less likely to stick. Second, after performing the undercover alignment move andinserting the card into the middle of the deck, I use my right hand thumb to pick up a break atthe back. While not the prettiest method, this allows me to see the backs of the cards and toknow whether the blue back is second or third from the top. If I see that it is second, then Irealize that there is still a face-up card fourth from the top. In this case, I perform a double lift,showing the card has returned to the top, and then perform the undercover alignment move oncemore, this time adding the face-up card and turning over the triple. The rest of the routine is justas described.

~ If you feel comfortable with the Undercover Force, then begin with the blue-backed card at thebottom of the deck. Perform the force, but allow the double to fall in-jogged. Now place the righthand's spread underneath the in-jogged double, have it signed, and proceed with the alignmentturnover.

28

ZEPHYR PRODUCTION

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1. Take out any four court cards. We'll use thequeens. Set the deck in the following order: FDQ, FU Q, Deck, FU Q, FD Q. When performing,I casually play with the cards in. betweeneffects. I cull the four cards to the top of thedeck and set them up while talking .to the

audience.

3. All eyes will be on the cards in your righthand. However, don't just let the two cards inthe left hand spread out. Instead, wrap yourfingers around them and hold them as if youwere holding a large packet. This is a verysubtle point, but since you don't want thespectators to know that you only have twocards in your left hand, this will visuallyconvince the spectators that you are holding ablock.

4. Repeat the throw process, tossing the deckfrom the right hand onto the table. This willleave the top and bottom cards in your righthand: suddenly there will be two face-upqueens in your right hand. Use your rightthumb to spread them out so that they takeup more space, visually.

5. At the same time as your right hand tossesthe deck, the thumb of your left hand willmove in undemeath the two face-downqueens. Use the thumb to tum the queens

29

face-up and then push the top one forward,just as in the right hand.

Performance: Set up the deck for theproduction, but add one more indifferent cardto the bottom of the deck, face-down.

'1. Tum the deck face-up and spread it outbetween your hands, making sure that neitherthe bottom nor top few cards are seen. Mostpeople will look through the deck face-up,like this, to find a card they want.

2. Close the spread, tum the deck face-down,and re-spread, being careful to not fla:sh theset-up. As you start spreading through, usethe right hand's middle finger to contact theface of the bottom card. Steal it outundemeath the spread and reinsert itanywhere in the deck. Crooked gamblers willlook through the cards face-down, becausetheir cards are marked.

3. As a magician, however, if I want a cardall I have to do is snap. Holding the deck in.the left hand, you can now snap your righthand's fingers (or anything else that does themagic for you), and perform the first throw. Letit register, then continue: Of course, if I wantall four... Here, the word "four" comes just asthe four queens come into view. At this point, Ishut up and let the display speak for itself.

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PRODUCTION AFTERTHOUGHTS:

~ The idea of throwing the deck and keeping the top and bottom cards in the hand is Hofzinser'sand can be found at the end of the trick "The Four Eights" on page 38 of the Dover edition ofHofzinser's Card Conjuring. Peter Duffie says: "Magic Christian informed me that Robert-Houdinwas using the toss flourish before Hofzinser. So it's probably something that was popular at that.time."

~ There are many interesting points about this production. The audience sees the whole deck face-up and face-down and are convinced that all is normal, without you having pointed anything out.Moreover, the indifferent card on the bottom of the deck is another convincer that will block anyof their. attempts to reconstruct the production later on.

~ . I like the fact that one queen appears first, allowing the spectators to experience just a bit of themagic. The first production is fast and instantaneous. In their minds they now associate thethrowing process with the production of a single card. The second time the throw is done, theysuddenly see four cards in your hands. They never see your left harid tums its cards over. Intheir minds it is as if the cards that were there just vanished and two queens appeared. .

~ You don't need a table for this production! Just practice catching the deck in the left hand,usingthe free fmgers. The deck should land inthe hand a split second after the left hand flips itstwo cards. When first practicing, I recommend doing so over the bed. The 'clean-up' will be a biteasier that way.. .

~ While I am not a fan of flourishes for flourishes sake, this one is an exception in my repertoire, as. it seems less circus-y and more magical. I hopeyou try it out and make their eyes bug out.

I do not for one moment think that any member of th.eaudience believes that what

he is seeing ismagic, but the routine does seem to constitute some' other form of

non-specific entertainment. -.g.hollingworth

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A TRICK FOR DESCARTES' EVIL GENIUSI sholl consider that the heavens, the earth, the colors, figures, sound, and all other external things are nought but iilusions

[I and dreams of Which this evil genius has availed himself, in order to Jay traps for my credulity - rene.descortes

3. Take back the signed selection and hold itin the right hand. Now this card has threeidentities: it's suit,its value, and your

2. Anytime your brain tells you to, say. theword stop. You can either do a face-up classicforce or just time your spreading so that whenthe spectator says the word stop yourrighthand takes all of the cards above the pinkybreak. Make sure that as the right hand movesaway the left hand relaxes and lets its cardsspread out slightly, so all looks natural.Thumb off the ten of hearts onto the table and

ask the spectator to sign his card: As you closeup the spread, get a pinky break below thesecond card of the still face-up deck.

your senses to see how well you payattention and how well you can trustyourself. Casually overhand shuffle the topthree cards ofthe deck to the bottom so thatthe audience sees a few red backs pass by. So

.be sure that you pay attention to everysensory perception. If you feel somethingtickle, its all part of the trick, don't worry.Tum the deck face-up and spread it betweenyour hands, making sure to not flash thetopfew cards of the deck and being careful so thatthe backs of the. deck are not seen, as well, Asyou spread, look for your ten of hearts in thespread and get a pinky break above it as youclose the spread.

r I[j 1. Take the cards out of the box and starttalking. Perhaps you have heard people say

1 ; that perception is reality. And then thereU are some that say perception is deception

and that your senses cannot be trusted.: Well, we're going to try an experiment with

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.Nothing is as it seems, claims the magician, and offers to prove this with a deck of cards. A card isr!selected from a red-backed deck and signed. The card is placed onto the bottom of the deck, but .t since what the audience thinks they see doesn't actually happen, the card is shown back on top.

n.,T~,~hiS is repeated for the rowdy drunks in the back. Then the signature of the selection is caused toIrvisu allYvanishonl! to reappear seconds late.r. For the grand finale: the magi~ian shakes the .

audience's perceptions completely; by changmg the back of every smgle card m the deck to. blue,

n' except for the selecte~ card, whose back he changes into a completely different design altogether. AtI the end, the magician is completely clean and is able to perform the rest of his show with the blue!.deck.

11 Setup: You need a blue-backed deck of cards,three red-backed duplicates (we'll use 3 of

[-I.Clu bs), and two other duplicates (we'lluse.Ten

._ of Hearts). One of the Ten of Hearts must bered-backed. The other one must have an odd

['j back. Tally-Ho or .Jerry'sNuggets will work,

, but make sure the back has a whiteborder.Also make sure that the face design of all the

r j cards is the same (using Hoyle and Bicyclel cards together, for example, will not work).

'LJ You must prepare the three red-backed three, of clubs along with the blue-backed three of

clubs from the deck. Just take a sharpieUmarker and sign all four cards with a .duplicate signature. Now take all the cardsface-up and set them up in the following order,Lfrom the top of the face-up deck to the bottom:Blue Backed 3C,about half of the blue-backeddeck, odd-backed lOB:, rest of blue-backed

lull deck, Red Backed 3C, Red Backed 3C, RedBacked lOH, Red Backed 3C. Make sure thatthe signatures of all the threes are facing theUsame way. Case the entire deck in a red-boxand you are ready to begin.

31

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signature. Perform the undercover double,aligning the red backed ten with the signedten, and turn both face-down, catching apinky break below them. Now, if I turnedyour card over so you couldn't see it,couldyou still use your mind to imagine what ithad once looked like? The spectator, unlessthey're three years old or drunk, will say yes.So far so good, then. Turn the double face-upand pick it up in right hand Biddle grip.:Carrythe cardls] towards your face to blow on them

real briefly. As you do so, use your left hand topushover the top two threes and get a pinkybreak below them. Feel free to tilt the handtowards yourself so that the back.of the. deckis towards the audience. Since the two cardsyou're spreading have red backs, flashingthem will only act as another convincer.

4. Make sure that signature is staying onthere. Bring the double back down and placeit back onto the deck for a moment. Move yourhands towards the spectator. As you do so,pick up the two cards above the break andcarry all four cards forward, still on top of thedeck. A different three of clubs with thesignature will now be seen but rio-one will bethe wiser. Have the spectator rub his finger onthe signature, making sure it is dry. Pick upall four cards in right hand Biddle grip to blowon the signature once more. Using the lefthand turn the deck over, careful to not flashany blue backs. Bring the quadruple downand set it on top of the deck, keeping a pinkybreak.

5. Now trust your eyes and watch closely.Turn the quadruple face-down and hold thedeck in Biddle grip. Using your left thumb,peel the top card off of the deck and into theopen palm. With the right hand lift up thedeck so that the bottom card (3C) is facingthem. Don't stress it, just keep your eyes onthe face-down card in your left hand; thespectators will notice the signed three andremember it no matter what. The card goes

32

.onto the bottom of the deck, do you believethat? Riffle up the back of the deck, careful sono one gets a flash of blue. Never trust youreyes. Very, very subtly flash the bottom cardof the deck. The sight of the signed three willtruly catch people and freak them out. They

will now believe that the card actuallyvanished from the bottom before it jumped tothe top, making the entire effect muchstronger. Perform a triple turnover, showingthe ten has returned.

6. I'll let your eyes get adjusted and we'lltry it once more. Turn the triple face-downand repeat: thumb off the top card into the lefthand, turn over the right hand, flashing thesigned three, and gently lower the deck ontothe card. The card goes on the bottom ofthe deck. Do you believe your eyes? Do .youbelieve me? The spectators will often say 'no'

. the second time, to which I reply: Now you'restarting to see. This time be a bit more directin showing that the three is still on the bottomof the deck, but still without saying a word.Most people will shake their heads at thispoint and audibly point out the fact that its nolonger on the bottom. Perform a double lift,showing the ten has returned to the top.

7. We've tested your perception, now let ustry your memory. Do you remember putting.

. your signature on the card? Because Idon't. At this point, you can do one of twothings; depending on which one you feel moreconfident in. You can either palm the secondcard (the red backed ten) and replace it backon top of the deck, making the signaturevanish, or you can do a top palm and hangonto the palmed card for about ten secondswhile the spectators are burning your hands --whichever you feel comfortable with. Eitherway, to the spectators, the signature has nowvanished from the card.

8. But you do remember doing that, don'tyou? Either replace the palmed card or palm

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bottom three once more. Do you see it? Bringthe hands together, depositing the four cardsbelow the break directly into a gambler's cop.Pause for a second. Do you hear it? Pick the.deck back up with the right hand and shake itonce more. Another three will show,convincing the spectators once again thatnothing has changed with the deckl Allow theleft hand to fall casually at your side. Don'tworry about ditching the copped cards yet;hang on to them for as long as you can.

12. As you drop the signed selection in front ofthe spectator, all attention will be on the card,so use that time to ditch the copped cards.The spectators will also be jumping for thedeck - if they're riot, then they're too polite orbelieve in your magical powers too much.Lucky for you, you are left completely cleanand have nothing to hide. Hope you enjoyplaying with this routine and trying it out foryour audience. Don't be afraid about the heavymoves at the end: the cover pass and the copshould all be covered naturally, and withenough practice, you'll gain the confidence to .make it all flow.

11. Never trust your senses...With the righthand, allow the cards to dribble down onto thetable starting from your left to the right(carrying attention away from the dirty lefthand). The spectators will be quite surprised,Allow all the cards to fall, but keep the face-upten in your hand. Snap it so the face is facing

.. the spectators, and. then tum it over, slowly

revealing the odd back...especially not withme.

10. The spectators will laugh, and whilekeeping eye contact with you, answer in thenegative. Use this time to get a break underthe bottom four cards. (See Afterthoughts)Transfer the pinky break to a right thumbbreak. Take the deck into right hand Biddlegrip and shake it back and forth, flashing the

Situation Check, from top to bottom of deck:face-up signed ten, FU red backed ten, FD redbacked three, pinky break, whole blue deck,blue three, two red threes.

9. Last question, and don't use the card boxto cheat. The spectators will automatically.. . .look at the red card box. As they do, perform acover pass, sending the second and thirdcards of the deck to the bottom.. What color isthe deck? They will reply, although not withfull confidence, that it is red. Do you believeyourself? As you say this, use the right hand .(which holds the deck in Biddle grip) togesture slightly. Make sure to flash the bottom .card of the deck, which, once again, is asigned three! To the spectators, (even thosefew who don't know what you did, but sensedyou did something during your cover pass)absolutely nothing has occurred,

r-,'I I the signed selection out and replace it back on

top of the deck. As soon as the card' has beenreplaced, tilt the deck towards yourself andmove the right hand away, as if gesturing tothe spectator. The spectator will reply that yes,he does remember. Good, because youshould trust yourself. This often gets a goodlaugh. As everyone relaxes, use this time to geta break under the top three cards of the deck.

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The evil genius stillWhispers, thundering, among the leaves of books,

frightening people, whispering: 'I can. Maybe I will. Maybe so, maybe not: - o. k.bouwsma

33

EVILLV GENIUS AFTERTHOUGHTS:

~ To make it easier for you to get a break at the end of the routine, simply make the blue backed

three a short card. Now it will be a simple matter to get a break below it; just be sure you don't

cop it off with the other four cards. Also, making the blue backed three a short card gives you a

short card to use for the rest of your performance - how nice!

~ The duplicate signature idea, while entirely different in this context, was inspired by Guy

Hollingworth's itA Card at any Number" from Drawing Room Deceptions.

~ Finally, at the end you will be left clean, with the blue backed deck, ready to perform the rest of

your magic. Therefore, to be ultra convincing, you should discard the blue-backed ten of hearts

. from the deck.

The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in itour pleasure.

-francoise.de.motteville

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HALLUCINOGENIC GAZE OF GALATheonly difference betvveen myself and a madman isthat I am notmad' - salvador.dali

6. Push the mate that is out-jogged into themiddle of the deck, but leave it sticking out fora little less than half an inch. Experimentinghere will allow you to know exactly how far topush. Tum the deck over its side, so that itisnow face-up, with the mate sticking out justenough to show that it is a five, but not

then laugh to yourself as you completely

ignore his exclamatory warning and proceed tocut the deck at an entirely different point intime and space, letting the blood flow back to

your pinky. Pick up the cards above yourbreak with the right hand and allow thespectator to see the five on the bottom of theright hand's pile. Remember this card just incase you see it again later on.

. 5. In fact, I'm going to leave this cardsticking out a little bit. You are nowgoing toperform the Kelly Bottom Placement. As yourright hand brings its packet down, the fingersof the right hand reach around the front of thedeck and kick the bottom five a bit to the rightside. When the hands meet, the left fmgerscontact the other five and side-jog it to the left..The right hand now moves slightly forward sothat the other five ends up being out-jogged inthe middle of the deck, while the right handfingers maneuver the chosen five to the secondfrom the bottom position. By pulling down onthe bottom card of the deck with your left .hand pinky and then the rest of the fingers,the selected five just glides right in above the'

queen. Situation check, from the top of theface-down deck About half of deck, slightlyout-jogged five (mate of selection) rest of deck, .'

selected five, queen.

4. Have the spectator say stop as you riffle,

r )Impression: With the help of a lovely lady, the magician induces his spectators into a card

jC' ;a1lUcin ation : Resting at the face of the deck, a queen is made to vanish and a selected card, ~aterializes in its place. Alas, the hallucination wears off and both the queen and the spectatorslowly melt backto reality.

r 1. Begin with a shuffled deck Start spreadingit face up. I want to show you something

r'nteresting. As you spread, you are going to! JUll out two mates. (Two fives work real well,but experimentation will lead you to find the

f~air you like best.) Once you have culled theI I .it ~wo mates (we'll use five of clubs and five of

spades) find any queen that looks good to you

[.-.. lnd out-jog it. It's not really a trick. And it's~ot an illusion. It's really more of ahallucination.

[1 . . .-2. You are now going to replace the two matesanywhere into the center of the deck Find arJgoOd plac~ and us~ng your left thumb contact

"any card m the nnddle. Pull down on thatcard, in-jogging it for half an inch. Now insert

t ~he two mates right behind that in-jogged card"and square up. All of this is done while .

ll CaSUallY talking. And as any good

:Jhallucination, it is induced by the lovelyeyes of a lady.

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. 1 .U3. Using your right hand, strip out the out-

jogged queen and drop it onto the face of the

L'Ideck Now you have to be real careful about: .. looking into her eyes, so I'm going to haveyou pick a card. Tum the deck face-down.Use your right thumb to press down on the in-jogged card and get a pinky break below thetwo mates. Situation check, from the top of theface-down deck: About half the deck, twoblack fives, .human pinky flesh elegantlypinched and slowly turning white, the

U~:::~er of the deck with the queen on the

35

The medulla would attempt to close Itselfoff from the signals it was getting from the frontal lobes '" andthe middle-brain

meanwhile, would be trying desperately to put a different interpretation on the scene, before passing it back to the

medul/a and the riskof physical action" - honter.s.tnornpson

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enough for its top two pips to be sticking out.This way you can concentrate on your cardinstead ofstaring into the eyes of thequeen. The deck should now be held at theleft hand's fingertips. To the spectator, the

. entire process should seem quite open andfree, as if your hands never cover the deck(which they don't), so this point should beemphasized using your hand language.

7. The hallucination begins when I pushyour card in all the way. Now you can't helpbut to gaze into her eyes. The right handcomes over, fmgers spread and hand lookingvery casual. Don't try to bend or flex yourhand, let the fmgers fall into their natural curl,and just keep them spread. Using the tips ofthe middle and ring finger slowly tap the cardflush into the deck. On the last tap, keep thehand over the deck, with the fingers in thefront and the thumb at the back. As anotherconvincer, run the left hand's thumb on theside of the deck as if squaring the deckcompletely.

8. Watch closely, don't blink. The deck isnow essentially held in the perfect position toperform a one-handed top palm. To executethe change, let the deck be held only by theright hand in Biddle grip. Keep a somewhatopen grip on the deck, allowing only themiddle fmger and thumb to hold the deck, andthe other fingers to be free. The right hand isnow going to swing up and then come down.The top palm is going to be performed duringthe arch, at the high point of the upswing. Theup movement of the entire deck will cover themotion of the card going into the palm. This isnot a quick jerk of an action; it must be donesmoothly so as not to arouse total suspicion.

The hand goes up about six inches and comesdown in a regular one-two count.

9. The instantthat the change occurs and theright hand comes back down, the left handcomes over and grips the deck from the bottomwith the fmgers on the right side and thethumb on the left. This allows the righthand(with the palmed queen) to slide to the right,alongside the outer edges of the deck. Thedeck is held in Biddle grip at the very outer-right edge by the right fingers and thumb atthe back. Do you see it? The selected five isnow in plain view as the right hand dribblesthe cards into the left palm. (The questionreally throws a spectator off. It creates theimpression of a true hallucination. You are notseeing the card; only they are.]

Bringing them down: Let the change register(don't rush it). To fmish, bring the right handback over the deck, replacing the palmedqueen onto the face of the deck. As soon as itis replaced, slide the right hand back to theright, just as it was when the queen waspalmed. At the same tune, tilt the deck so thespectators can only see the back of it. Thespectators will see the clean palm of your righthand. If there was a thought in their mind thatyou were hiding a card, it is now gone. Thereplacement process takes all but a second.Most of the time, the spectators will look awayfrom the deck, so grab their attention at thatmoment and just as you perform thereplacement, say: But don't believe your.eyes, Once the queen has been replaced, gazedown at the deck, drawing their eyes down aswell, give the deck a soft riffle at the front endand slowly lower the deck so the queen comesinto view....because it's only a hallucination.

36

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HALLUCINATORY AFTERTHOUGHTS:. Alternate Opening Method: Because the condition of the deck is different each and every time, IInever have an exact method for the opening sequence. One of the things I suggest doing instead

of culling out both mates and then out-jogging the queen is to simply start out by cutting thequeen to the face of the deck. Then spread through the cards and cull out the first black fivewhen you get to it. When you get to the second black five, reinsert the culled five above thesecond one, but slightly in-jogged. Now turn the deck over its side, push up on the in-jog to getyour break below the mates and you are ready.I have been performing this quick and simple effect for about three years now and can attest toits strength when performed in the right context. Its strength lies in the fairness and the constantconditioning developed throughout the procedure. While the nature of the color change limits thesize of the audience you can perform it forethis is one of the strongest effects you can do for. asmall group of people. Also: when performing for a lovely lady, use a young handsome jack toinduce the hallucination, .

The best part about the change is that it is unexpected - there is no palm-like motion that gives it'away. The mate-subtlety might not pass with knowledgeable card men, but it will be 100%convincing for laypeople.The color change, meanwhile, when executed smoothly and d~ne at the'right time andflow with the graceful movements of your hand, is quite startling! This effectrequires (and deserves, I believe) grace. This is lentidigitation at its cleanest and most direct, sobe sure to emphasize how clean and fair everything is by always keeping the fmgers open andmoving the cards slowly and deliberately

~ This is the most important point: In order for the colorchange to be really effective, your top

f_'.-j change must be really bad. Whereas normally you want the top palmed card to go directly into; your palm, for this effect, you want the card to go east as much as you can. When executed

correctly (very poorly, that is) the palmed card will be covered by your hand about 2/3 of the way,[J .and the rest will be sticking out on the right side of your palm-down hand. Why does the topchange need to be so bad? Because this frees up your index and middle fingers! Now, when youdribble those cards, the right hand looks completely empty! Remember that if the spectator is tothe left of you, they are seeing what you are seeing: this makes it easy to know if you are flashing'or not.

il/i.~ The best position for the spectator to be standing is to the left of you. You want to beI looking at the color change from practically the same perspective as her. I usually face theLJ

spectator during the selection process, then begin to turn to my right as I perform the bottomplacement. The reasoning for this is so that both of us can see the deck from the side and seethat the card is going into the middle. When the bad top palm is performed, the edge that issticking out cannot be seen! For the replacement, I turn to the left, so I am facing the spectator

Uonce again.

. > Finally, make sure that everyone can see the cards and that they all register the colorchange. If you have a complete understanding of the effect you are trying to achieve, you will be

I ] better off in presenting it to your spectator. It's all about framing the moment, so be aware of .t everything your spectator sees and hears and make sure he is paying attention at the crucial

moment. You can never control all the factors, but you can facilitate a clean and magical

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I experience by avoiding mistakes in speech and technique.~j ~ A similar effect, "Imagination" was published by Simon Lov