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VOLUME 2: THE OSTERLINDBREAKTHROUGH CARD SYSTEM

•Written by

RICHARD OSTERLIND

Text & Layout by

JIM SISTI

www.osterlindmysteries.com

© 2006 by Richard Osterlind

All rights reserved. Reproduction or utilization of this work inany form by any means now known or hereinafter invented,including, but not limited to, xerography, photocopying andrecording, and in any information storage and retrieval system,is forbidden without written permission from the publisher.

First E-Book EditionMarch 2006

OTHER BOOKS BY RICHARD OSTERLIND

The Breakthrough Card System - 20th Anniv. Edition

The Memorized Breakthrough Card System

The Very Modern Mindreader

The Perfected Center Tear

The Principles of Magic

The Business of Magic

Making Magic Real

Making Real Magic

Essays

Dedication

It didn't take long for some friends to point out that I didn'tdedicate my first guidebook to someone! So, let me take thistime to dedicate the entire series of Guidebooks to first, myloving wife and best friend, Lisa; my girls, Ruth, Rachel, Brit-tany and Megan; and to all my supporters who keep asking formore Osterlind material.

Finally, please join me in thanking my good friend, Jim Sisti,who is responsible for my affiliation with L&L Publishing andall that has followed.

Foreword

Traditionally, if you wanted to learn the “real secrets” andbenefit from the twenty-five or thirty years a professional hasput into his profession to learn what – and, more importantly,what not – to do to be successful in his field, you had twochoices: go out for twenty-five or thirty years and gain the ex-perience yourself, or pay the already successful guy severalhundreds or thousands of dollars per hour in consulting fees.(That’s if you could pull him away from earning his living longenough to teach you.)

Through the magic of pre-recorded video instruction, theworld of magic and mentalism occasionally gets to benefit fromthe wit and wisdom of a truly successful full-time professionalperformer, but it’s awfully rare that we get handed the “innersecrets” – the real details and knowledge that only comes fromtwenty-five or thirty years of constantly performing those tricksfor real-life audiences. (Kindly consider for a moment why thatmay be.)

With that in mind, I feel more than confident in sayingthat magicians and mentalists in 2006 sure have it pretty goodwhen one considers the contents of Richard Osterlind’s MindMysteries series of videos. With them, you have the opportu-nity to learn and subsequently perform stunning performancepieces that were honed over the course of hundreds and hun-dreds of performances in front of real audiences. The explana-tions include performance tips that give you a window into the“whats” and “whys” of turning an already good trick into aguaranteed audience killer. But, as it turns out, there was more.

When I learned that Richard was working on a series ofguide books to augment the material in the videos, I was ini-tially stunned. Understand that Richard earns his living per-

forming this material. I was certainly not alone in being sur-prised he released all of it on video, but the guide books goeven further and are, essentially, the equivalent of personalinstruction (please see paragraph one above.) Usually one hadto perform a trick hundreds and hundreds of times to learnwhy, for instance, a phrase constructed one way always elicits afavorable response while a similar, though slightly differentwording, fell flat. (Wouldn’t you like to know the difference?)

Given my personal admiration and respect for him, andthe fact that Richard considers the Breakthrough Card Systemhis greatest accomplishment, I was truly honored when he askedme to write this foreword. Having read this guide book coverto cover three times now, I can say you are in for a series oftreats. The Breakthrough Card System has a number of abso-lutely wonderful features built into it that allow you to concen-trate on routining. The second volume of the Mind Mysteriesvideos explored some of those best routines. This guide booksharpens your performance skills and allows you to performsome of the most astounding mentalism your audiences willever see.

The best part? It won’t take you twenty-five or thirty yearsto learn them!

John LeBlancLafayette, LAMarch 2006

Introduction

It is with great relief and satisfaction that I write this intro-duction to the second installment of the Mind Mysteries guidebooks. From the first day I began writing Volume One, I wasworried (or “a-scared,” as we say in Kentucky) that my effortswould be seen as an attempt to cash in on the success of theMind Mysteries video series. I knew I had a lot of importantthings to say and, now that the first volume has been scruti-nized, the positive feedback has been profound. To date (I’msure this will end soon!), there has not been one bit of negativefeedback about the book. Some of my e-mails have shown evenmore analysis of the material than I went into myself.

It is my intention to go into as much practical detail as Ican muster up with each video. Each one has its own uniqueflavor and I am now happy I recorded such a diverse array ofmaterial so as to leave the door open to different kinds of study.With this volume also comes the realization that I must talkabout some blunders I made in the making of the series. TheAct has been with me for over two decades and pretty muchruns on its own. I can do those routines in my sleep. As weprogressed over the next six videos, however, I found myselfdoing routines in different scenarios than I usually do themand, in trying to keep the flow going, sometimes sacrificed dic-tion and even thinking to presentation! In this second video,for instance, you can see my brain malfunctioning when, in theCorinda routine, I talk about the cards being mixed above andbeneath the deck instead of the table! Although bad, that isnothing in comparison to the drastic blunder I made in theBlackjack Routine that could have made that twice as effectiveas it was. I will talk about that in due time.

In a bit of self-defense, please let me point out that the

order and routining of these effects is not what I would nor-mally do. As much as I would like magicians to purchase all ofthe videos available, I realize that many only choose the onesthey feel will be to their most benefit. It therefore became nec-essary to include all the Breakthrough Card System materialon one video. I would normally only perform one or two ofthese routines in a single performance. As already mentionedin the previous guide book, the Card Calling routine fills thesecond slot in my stage act, not as a close-up item. Still, theversatility of the system is apparent in the completely differenteffects it obtains. Nothing on this DVD is redundant and all ofthese routines could be done in one session if so desired.

Finally, this book is about the Breakthrough Card Systemand about the use of cards in general for both magic and men-talism. There are, however, continuing examples of stagecraftthat I will point out whenever pertinent and different fromthose already mentioned. Each video has its own distinguish-ing trademarks when it comes to audience handling and eachoffers uniquely different situations because of the characteris-tics of the routines.

I sincerely hope you find this guide book as useful as thefirst volume.

Richard OsterlindFalmouth, KYMarch 2006

10 Mind Mysteries Guide Book

MIND MYSTERIES

Volume 2

The Osterlind

Breakthrough Card System

The Use of Cards in Mentalism

I find this a strange subject to be writing about. The use ofcards in mentalism was never even questioned when I was go-ing through my formative years. I have a Tannen’s Magic Cata-log in hand as I write this. It is Catalog number 10 from theyear 1973. Turning to the mentalism section, I find Dr. Jaks’Supersonic Card Prediction, Supreme Control Deck, PerfectedMental Masterpiece, Vantastic, Menta-Match, X-Credible, etc.Other catalogs I remember, such as Abbott’s and Hank Lee’s,had the same type of line-up. Just about every fourth or fifthmentalism effect used playing cards.

The Amazing Kreskin was always on TV during those daysand he always did card effects. From what I had read ofDunninger, he did many, too. When I bought books aboutAnnemann, Corinda and Koran, there were all kinds of cardroutines in those pages. The thought that playing cards wereinappropriate for mentalism never existed! How could they bewhen every mentalist I looked up to used them?

To be fair, the magic scene was much different then, also.There were far fewer magicians and magic club membershipwas much lower. Card magic, as we know it today, was also notso prevalent. Yes, it was true that most everyone in my localclub did some card work, but it was usually just part of theirrepertoire. After two or three card effects, most guys moved onto something else. There were about three or four HarryLorayne books out, a couple of Garcia and Vernon books, alongwith the standard material in the major texts from which todraw from. The inventory of hundreds (if not thousands) oftomes on every variation of every card sleight ever concoctedsimply did not exist. The result was that a magician was notautomatically a guy who did card tricks. Now, of course, things


are often different. I can’t help but wonder just how many cardeffects any audience is willing to sit through before they scream,“Enough!”

I believe many performers who come from this magic clubenvironment assume everyone in the world thinks of playingcards as something magicians use to do tricks with. This maycome as a complete shock to them, but most regular peoplethink of cards as something you play games with! This is onlyreinforced with the present popularity of casinos, online gam-bling, and tournament poker. To bring out a deck and do some-thing mind bending with them, especially if it relates to gam-bling, is right on target these days.

It should also be mentioned that since time immortal, therehave been those who use cards for telling fortunes. Long be-fore Tarot decks were so readily available, this was standardfare. Along those same lines, playing cards were often used totest ESP before the Rhine cards became more common.

I have to mention, and this should go without saying, thatyou have to choose your effects wisely. You cannot, for instance,attempt to do card mentalism that obviously uses sleight ofhand. (For that matter, you should not do any magic that obvi-ously uses sleight of hand! Any such sleights should be hiddenand invisible.) You should also try to stay away from long andinvolved effects that smack of mathematics. If there is anyonein the group who knows a card trick or two, it is probably the21 Card Trick or a similar effect. Using a direct approach thatseems to offer no room for trickery will completely throw offthe occasional magic dabbler you might run into.

There will be those, of course, who choose not to use play-ing cards in their performances for one reason or another. Thatis their prerogative and I certainly won’t get into a debate abouttheir reasoning which, I’m sure in their minds, is sound. Mypoint is that if you do choose to use them, there is absolutelyno reason why you shouldn’t and precedence is on your side.

Finally, please do not feel guilty about taking out a deck of

Volume 2: The Osterlind Breakthrough Card System 13

cards. The moment you look suspicious doing anything, youtelegraph that to the audience and the entire mood changes.Try using some of the gambling patter I used on this DVD andsee if it doesn’t instantly get the interest of your audience.

The Breakthrough Card System

The first copies of the Breakthrough Card System were pub-lished 23 years ago in 1983. Over the years, there have beenreprints of the original, the 25th Anniversary edition, TheMemorized Breakthrough Card System, articles in magazines,as well as the performances and explanations on this video.The system itself is thoroughly explained on the DVD with allthe shortcuts and other handling tips. It is the intention of thisseries of guide books to present new ideas and not repeat whathas already been presented elsewhere. With that in mind, andnot wanting to repeat myself, I would like to give some furtherinformation on the background of the Breakthrough Card Sys-tem and its very nature.

I have already explained in the discussion of the RadarDeck how I came to set out for a new stacked deck. The moreI advanced in mentalism, the more I realized just how power-ful a tool such a stack can be. The only ones I was aware of atthe time were the Si Stebbins, the Eight Kings and the Nikolaarrangements. (The John Cornelius stack was around, but itwas designed for an entirely different purpose.) So, the state ofaffairs was such that, if you wanted to have a stacked deck thatlooked entirely random, it was the Nikola or nothing.

Most books teaching the Si Stebbins or Eight Kings guar-anteed that a quick spread of the deck would never reveal anyset order. Although I found that to be true, I knew that a reallyrandom arrangement would allow much greater freedom ofworking, especially in those effects where the cards are placedin the spectators’ hands. That turned out to be of much moreimportance than I anticipated and I will explain its significancein a moment.

To paraphrase the words Banachek once said to me, the


Breakthrough Card System is my baby! That is why I can talkabout it completely independent of myself like a father show-ing snapshots of his daughter. Many of those who first encoun-ter the BCS marvel at its ingenuity, but I wonder how manyunderstand its beauty? We start with one of the oddest num-ber bases ever created (i.e. 52 cards made up of 4 different setsof 13) and create a mathematical formula that allows thesecards to be arranged in what appears to be a totally randomorder. Not only are there no exceptions to the mathematics,but the system repeats upon itself, creating an endless loop.The arithmetic itself is hidden in the real “breakthrough,” whichis, although the value of the second card is determined by thefirst card, the suit of the second card is determined by that cardand not the previous one! That is the momentous point that ismost often overlooked by those examining this system for itsuniqueness. To achieve the goal of the Breakthrough is impos-sible if the value and suit is determined by the first card only. Ihave seen many magicians on the forums trying to determine amathematical way to locate any card at any position in the BCSdeck. They always fail since they don’t take into account thisintricacy built into the system. So you see, even the mathemat-ics themselves have a secret within the system!

I believe one of the subconscious appeals of the BCS tomagicians is that it is not contrived. It is mathematically pureand exists rather than being made up or manufactured! It some-how feels more like gold than stainless steel! One also gets thefeeling there are other hidden treasures within its dimensionsthat have yet to be discovered (and there are!)

The Breakthrough Card System has been compared to othersystems and rated for its degree of randomness. I disagree to-tally with many of those findings and contend that the Break-through Card System is much more random looking than mostother stacks. Many do not even have two cards with like valueslying next to each other! This would certainly be expected tohappen with a legitimately shuffled deck. This gives the BCS a


tremendous advantage over its competition. Please spread outthe deck and look it over closely. Notice the unequal sequenceof the colors and suits. Look at the locations of the 10’s andcourt cards. Notice the unequal spacing of the Aces. Take anyvalue and see if you can find a relationship to other cards ofthat same value. Even notice how the top half of the deck bearsno resemblance to the bottom half. This all may seem as thoughI am splitting hairs, but I would hope by now you would un-derstand I am a totally practical person. It is the supreme ran-domness of the Breakthrough that makes it so effective in theperformance situation. Now let me finally explain why.

In the first guide book, I discussed the difference in havingsomething written in the center of a folded piece of paper andin the corner. Although some may argue that it makes no dif-ference to the audience, I contend that it does. On a very pro-found psychological level, the paper with the writing in thecenter seems very much more secure to the spectator than onewith the writing in a corner. Because it is obvious the writingcannot be peeked, the scrutiny level falls far below the circum-stance when a word is written in the corner. I, personally, wouldnever leave such a paper or card with the audience afterwardsbecause of the fear they would find the not-so-difficult-to-work-out secret! Similarly, the randomness of the BCS affects thepsyche in the same way.

As you go through this video with the guide book in hand,please notice how often I take the time to spread the deck infront of the spectator and just hold it there before I begin, let-ting him or her scrutinize the order and letting the random-ness sink in. Also notice how the effects are purposely routinedso that the spectators themselves often spread the deck andlook through it. Pay attention to how often I actually ask if thecards are mixed up before beginning. Seeing the randomnessof the cards disperses any doubt that the cards are unprepared.

Although you might think it far too subtle to matter, therandom nature of the setup does, in fact, sink into the subcon-


scious of the audience. When they see three Tens within fourcards or two Jacks followed by a Queen, their minds say, “Thesecards can’t be in any set order. They are really mixed up!” Ican’t tell you how often I get e-mails and letters asking mewhat I do when someone wants to shuffle the deck. Please lookat how this never happens and understand why that is the case!There is no need to shuffle cards if a person is already con-vinced they are thoroughly mixed! Please re-read that last sen-tence again!

Finally, I want to address the ongoing debate of whether ornot a memorized deck is superior to a deck that is sequentiallystacked. Although I have published The Memorized Break-through Card System and have stated many times over thatany deck can be memorized, there are still detractors who in-sist the BCS should be used as simply a stepping stone for thehigher plateaus of card magic using a memorized deck! I havenothing but respect for the work of magicians such as Aronsonand Tamariz, but this advice clearly misses the mark and defieslogic.

Rather than repeat the arguments I have painstakingly madein the above book, such as the incredible benefit of having botha numerically stacked and memorized deck, let me just say thatI believe there are some who would try to justify their beliefssimply because they have put in a lot of hours in learning sucha system! I work on a need basis. I don’t understand how Iwould need to know how to get a new deck into a stacked or-der. Not only would I need to have many new decks availableat any one show for each group of people I approached, but Iseriously wonder if they would patiently wait while I wentthrough a series of Faro Shuffles and other handling while Igot the deck into position. I also think I would feel a bit ofapprehension with the thought that one single mistake couldmess up everything! Neither do I need a multitude of othereffects that can be done with my stack. I already have morethan enough and know plenty of card magic with a legitimately


shuffled deck to handle situations once the cards have reallybeen mixed! In truth, I wonder if I did go through all the troubleof learning a memorized deck that could be stacked from newdeck position and went through all the shuffles and cuts neces-sary to set the deck, if I would then be willing to do a routinethat ruined the stack in one effect! If that effect were so memo-rable to warrant all that, then wouldn’t I want it to be such thatI could repeat immediately with a legitimately shuffled deck?

My bottom line is always audience amazement. If any othercard system can be shown to somehow increase that factor forthe effects I demonstrate on this DVD, I would like to be shownhow. I use the Breakthrough Card System for certain purposesand for those effects it is 100% effective.

With that said, let us begin the work.

CARD CALLING

History

As I stated in the explanation section of the DVD, I firstsaw Ronnie Gann do this in his stage show. For those of youwho don’t know who Ronnie was, outside of seeing his picturein Corinda’s 13 Steps (and perhaps own his only book, TheWizard of Odds), let me tell you from first-hand knowledgethat he was a magnificent entertainer! Ronnie was the epitomeof a real worker and spent many years doing his act on thePlayboy Club circuit. This resulted in a show that was totallypolished and perfected. It is a real testament to the classics ofmagic to know that nothing in Ronnie’s show could be consid-ered ground-breaking or trendsetting, but it was all solid mate-rial that will never be old. His opening was simply a mono-logue that any stand-up comedian would have been proud tocall theirs. It lasted about five minutes and was the perfectopener for Ronnie. By the time he was finished with it, theaudience was laughing and loving him!

I hope this reinforces my thoughts in the first guide bookabout the importance of other things in a magic or mentalismact besides the secrets!

After the monologue, the first effect Ronnie performed wasCard Calling with jumbo cards. Ronnie is long gone and I have noidea if he first learned this effect from Chan Canasta, but what-ever the truth is, Ronnie certainly made this effect his own. I cantruthfully say I don’t know how much of the way I perform it nowwas copied from Ronnie as it was a long time ago that I saw himdo it, but he certainly showed me how effective this single effect is.It instantly made him a mindreader in the eyes of the audience.

Ronnie used the Si Stebbins stack when he performed theroutine. I have to admit, as I sat there in the audience, I wastempted to say the name of the next card aloud to the person I


was with! I didn’t, of course, but just the thought of someonebeing able to do that scared me a bit. When I decided, yearslater, to add the routine to my own show, I wanted to have asystem where that couldn’t happen. That was where the searchfor a new stack all began.

I realize that the same could be done to me today if some-one knew the BCS, but I would like to believe that anyonewho is that advanced in magic would have enough morals notto do so! If that day ever does happen, I guess I will just haveto invent a new stack and keep it to myself!

I would like to say a word about the Card Calling effect itself.It is certainly the right of every magician to decide what effects hefeels are the strongest, but there seems to be an almost universalconviction these days that the Any Card at Any Number effect isthe greatest card demonstration. That might be true from amagician’s point of view, but I firmly believe it is not from a layperson’s. In my books, The Principles of Magic and my trilogy(Making Magic Real, Making Real Magic, and Essays), I discusstime and time again the importance of doing magic that has mean-ing to real people. What power do you suppose the average Joewould rather possess, the ability to know where a freely-namedcard was situated in a deck or the ability to know all the cards inan opponent’s hand? The first is clever; the second means mak-ing big money in card games!

Card Calling is, in my humble opinion, the single greatestmindreading card effect you can do. That is why I think so highlyof it, always include it in my show, and why I spent so much timedevising the perfect stack to make it happen!

Analysis

The routine begins and I look around to decide who I willuse for this routine. I spot the gentleman sitting near the front


and say, “Do you ever play cards?” He responds at once with,“Yes, quite a lot!” Now I almost always use a man for this rou-tine since it normally goes in my stage act and I use women forboth the Watch Routine and the Magazine Test during thatshow. I had picked him because he looked like a normal per-son and not one of the magicians at the shoot. (Louis almostalways has any attending magicians sit in the back of the audi-ence.) Still, his instant response of “A lot!” makes me suspi-cious that he might be a magician and I never use a magician asa helper unless it’s for a special purpose (Test Conditions II).So I instantly ask the lady next to him – Margaret – if she playscards and her response is a lot more to my liking. I know that Iwill be using men for other routines and I decide to use her.The point I am making is one I have stressed in my books; it isbetter to take your time choosing an assistant and get one that’sdesirable than to grab the first person and risk having troublewith your effect. In all likelihood, the gentleman would havebeen fine, but I don’t take unnecessary chances when I don’thave to! Also notice that I did not give any reason why I didn’ttake him instead of her. I just moved on and nothing was said.Again, as magicians, we seem to feel compelled to explain orjustify everything we do instead of just doing it!

I invite Margaret up and the first thing she does is plant anice kiss on my cheek! I immediately put my arm around herand respond, “We’ll be taking a short break…” and it gets agreat laugh! I want to talk about something here that is veryimportant – flirting with your audience members! Margaret isa wonderful and charming middle-aged lady and my saying thatto her was funny and warm-feeling. No one took offense and itwas one of the high points of the show. If, however, that hadbeen Cassandra, Brittany or one of the other beauties in theaudience, that remark would have been totally inappropriate. Icould have looked like some kind of cad or dirty old man! Justbecause David Copperfield gets beautiful women on stage andflirts with them does not mean you can do the same thing re-


gardless of your age or how you look! Besides, those women inCopperfield’s show are, for the most part, paid assistants andthe lines are rehearsed. Over the years, I have seen many ma-gicians become far too familiar and outlandish with their ladyassistants. Please, never do this as it is in extremely poor tasteand helps no one.

Now let’s go back to the routine.Again, when I begin, notice how I do not lecture about

mindreading and ESP. Instead, I talk about the typical size ofmy audiences, stressing how some are quite large. This is in-terest building (they wonder where all this is going) as well asstating, in a very delicate and indirect way, that I must be goodif I work for huge audience like that! I use this kind of indirectreinforcement of my professional standing constantly when Iwork. More importantly, I use these lines to lead up to the jokeabout the jumbo deck. Notice how the laugh covers any nega-tive connotations about the cards and offsets any suspicion theymight be gimmicked. Although you could do the Card Callingroutine with a normal-sized deck, I would always use the bigone if just for the joke!

As I take out the jumbo cards, I talk about how these areavailable in many stores. I won’t try to cover the fact that Imade a blunder in saying the cards are made by the “BicycleCorporation.” Yes, I know the company is the U.S. PlayingCard Company, especially as it is very close to where I live.Rest assured, every time I perform this routine live, my minddrifts back to this DVD and that mistake!

As I show Margaret the cards, notice how long I go throughthe deck showing the random order. I will point this out in allthe routines to come. In this routine, however, the very natureof the effect will show the haphazard order of the cards.

I want to point out a peculiar oddity I have noticed sincemaking these videos. I have found that when I look directly atthe cards, or any prop, as I talk about it, the room seems tobecome very quiet and everyone else looks, too. This goes


against some magicians’ advice that you try to constantly lookat your audience even when describing something. Looking ata prop directly focuses attention and is not a bad thing at all.

I use the ruse about the size of the cards to justify the cut-ting-only shuffle. (You might want to notice that, in a moment,when I ask Margaret to shuffle the cards she has, she makesthe exact same motions!)

When I spread the cards for her to make a selection, noticehow I use the word clump. I say, “Please pull out a clump ofcards from anywhere in the deck.” I have gone through manywords trying to find just the right one so that they grab theproper amount. I used to say bunch, but that didn’t quite makeit. Clump is almost a funny word and seems to work just right.Also notice how I control how many she takes by making thejokes such as, “She’s got about half the deck! That’s OK. Youcan take a few more.” I actually got her to put some back andthen take some more until she had about just the right numberfor the routine.

As soon as she has the cards, I turn my back. I do not lookat the bottom card at this time. I wait until I hand the cards toan audience member. I should point out that the peek on thevideo is a bit obvious. Usually I am walking to someone who isseated in the audience at some distance and it is easy to getthat peek while on the move. Still, it goes by here unnoticedand that is what is important. I should also point out that thisidea of giving out the rest of the deck to another person ismine. Ronnie did not do that nor do I know of Canasta doingit. It is a nice proover and throws all suspicion off the deck as itis totally out of my hands.

I ask Margaret to hold the cards as though she is playingPoker or Gin Rummy. One of the problems in this routine ishaving someone not spread the cards enough so that they missone you call out. Even if they later find it, it subconsciouslystrikes home that you must not be reading the person’s mindas they did not see it themselves. That is the effect in this rou-


tine and you want to keep it that way.Just before I begin naming the cards, I have a little fun with

John holding the rest of the deck and make a few jokes. But Iimmediately turn it serious by talking about there not beingany secret cameras or other devices to allow me to see the cards.This takes the audience back to the serious level for the ben-efit of what I’m about to do.

I ask Margaret to look over the cards, “Let your eyes gofrom one card to the next to the next,” and then I say, “Goback to the Two – the Two of Diamonds.” What just happenedthere is very important! First, I got her to look over all thecards and then I said “go back to,” implying that she just lookedat the card and I picked it up as she did. See, the idea in thisroutine that makes it play so strong is to make it appear I amcalling out the cards as she is looking at each one. This is whereI want to get to so I have to work into it and get her agreeingwith me.

Please pay attention to how Margaret is gradually led intoagreeing with me more and more as the routine progresses untilthe goal that I am calling out the cards she is choosing to lookat becomes a reality instead of a suggestion.

By first calling out one she has just looked at, I am safe. Itcould be anyone. But, to the audience, it is one that she justlooked at. Then I get a little stronger and say, “That was an 8you just looked at. The 8 of Clubs!” By saying “8” first, I leadher eyes to it and then elaborate on the “Clubs” after she isdoing so!

The next card uses the same ruse again as I say, “That wasa 6. Look at it again. The 6 of Spades.” Notice how I am di-recting her while making it appear that she is randomly look-ing at cards.

Now another ruse is demonstrated that I am very happyabout. I say, “I know you just mixed them up, but right aroundthere, wasn’t that the King of Diamonds? Your eyes picked upthat one.” Look at Janelle’s face as Margaret removes the King


from right next to where the 6 was! See, because you can’t mixjumbo cards that well, I am fairly safe using this strategy occa-sionally. I also know they are not mixed very well as I watchedher mix them earlier!

Let me make a very important point here about somethingelse I have been doing. Notice how, as I turn to Margaret totake each card called, I am turning just enough to see howmany cards she is still holding. It is a very deceptive move andyou might not even be aware yourself that I can see the cards.When I get down to about half a dozen cards, I know I can usethe above ruse with a degree of certainty. It also allows me todo the following.

Since I saw her remove the King of Hearts from the centerof her spread, I make a bold leap here and actually say, “Thatis the 2 of Hearts you just looked at!” I am figuring that card isright in the middle of the spread and I just saw there were onlyfive cards left. You can see that was right on the money andMargaret takes the 2 from right next to where the King was!

I now take it even further. I actually say, “OK, that’s a 6and a 3. The 6 of Diamonds and right next to it is the 3 ofDiamonds!” She removes them together, completely verifyingwhat I am saying! This was really not too much of a long shotbased on my analysis and you can see how much it adds to thepresentation. Not only am I now disclosing what card she is look-ing at, but the exact location of the cards! I do this because I amalmost at the end of the effect and I am trying to make it build!

Although I mentioned this earlier, notice how two small dia-mond cards, the 6 and the 3, subconsciously support the fact thatthe cards are in a completely random order.

In any routine where the basic effect is repeated, you mustadd an element of suspense that keeps each step new. You can seehow each card becomes more and more impossible and continuesto further enhance the mindreading nature of this routine.

Notice at this time that as I take those two cards, I do NOTlook at the cards in Margaret’s hands at all. I already know she


only has four cards at this point and will be left with two.We now come to the end of this beautiful number and I am

very pleased with what I came up with for the ending. As juststated, you must build each phase of the routine and the end-ing must be something very special and different. I came upwith this idea many years ago when I first started performingCard Calling and it has never failed to end exactly as you seeon the video. This is the premise: As I am calling out the cards,the audience realizes in a more and more convincing mannerthat I am naming the very cards she is actually concentratingon. This has to be what comes across or the whole presenta-tion becomes a trick. I realize, of course, that many in the au-dience simply won’t accept that and are looking for some kindof explanation. I know many are actually thinking, “Can heask her to think of ANY card and then name it?” That is ex-actly where I go!

I say to Margaret, “OK, wait a minute now. Are you downto two cards?” She says, “Yes” and I say, “You are?” If youlisten carefully to the background, you can actually hear Johnsay, “How does he know that?” I then say, “Think of eithercard!” There it is! I can almost hear the audience thinking,“Yes, that is what I want to see!” You have gotten to the realultimate moment where you finally prove yourself. And that isexactly where I try to add even one more element to the end-ing both to satisfy the challenge and enhance it even more.

Without any hesitation I say, “OK, here’s what happened.First she thought of the 10 of Spades, changed her mind overto the 8 of Diamonds and then went back to the 10 of Spades!”Look at the reaction on the DVDs. It is always the same! Al-ways! I have been doing this routine for over 20 years and thisis how it always ends! If you do your part up to this point, withall the clever subterfuges I have outlined above, you will haveslowly gotten your assistant right into the palm of your handand have them agreeing with everything you say. When you getto this ending, they will hand you the two cards in total agree-


ment with what you just said and it will create spontaneousapplause! (And, without using my line!) Also notice how I holdone card in each hand in applause condition as I dismiss Mar-garet and retrieve the rest of the deck with the line, “Any dupli-cates?” This will reinforce the fairness of it all in anyone’s mindwho forgot that you gave out the rest of the deck.

Finally, notice how, after I put away the cards, I make thejoke about getting up a game of Poker after the show is over! Ialways use this joke and it always gets a great laugh. But equallyimportant, it reminds the audience of the practical nature ofthe ability I have just demonstrated.

TWO CARDS IN POCKET

History

I have to be completely honest about this effect. I first sawThe Amazing Kreskin do this on stage many years ago! Thiswas long before I even knew who Chan Canasta was. I havealways admired Kreskin and he certainly has influenced mywork more than any other living mentalist. He has the abilityto take a marketed effect and perform it right off the shelf andmake it look like a miracle, but he also can come up with origi-nal ideas that knock me right off my feet for their ingenuity!Most importantly, Kreskin demonstrates that what is impor-tant is the effect on the audience and not where the materialcomes from. In this case, he showed me how he constantlysearches the archives of mentalism for gems and then presentsthem in a flawless fashion.

I try to create effects when I feel there is a need for a changeand not just to do something different. I also have found thattaking any effect and working on it as though it were your ownwill cause it to evolve into something that can truly be calledyour own. When I first saw Two Cards in Pocket performed, Iknew it was tailor-made to use in conjunction with the Break-through Card System. I immediately put it into my act andstarted working on the presentation. Although what I demon-strate on Mind Mysteries is not very much different from theChan Canasta version or what I saw Kreskin do many yearsago, there are quite a number of presentation angles I havedeveloped which might very well change your whole idea abouthow certain things should be done. These principles can applyto all card magic and not just mental material. This particulareffect will also demonstrate, to the very letter, what I said ear-lier is so important about the Breakthrough Card System! Ibelieve you will understand when we get there.


I also want to relate out a funny story that happened to mea couple of years ago in Las Vegas. I was out there workingwith Criss Angel for his new television series. It had been yearssince I last saw my friend Johnny Thompson and it was such atreat to spend time with him again. We somehow got to talkingabout this effect and he told me a story. He was a friend ofCanasta’s and told me how he watched him perform the TwoCards in Pocket night after night and he always hit on the cor-rect pockets. He constantly wondered what Canasta would doif the spectator got it wrong! Then Johnny asked me what I doif that happens. Frankly, I was reluctant to say because, try as Imight, the best response I could ever come up with was, “Wellthat shows why you shouldn’t play cards!” I personally thoughtthis was a bit lame and didn’t want to tell that to Johnny so Ibeat around the bush and didn’t really answer. Finally, he toldme what Canasta said when he finally got it wrong one night. Itwas almost word for word what I say! I couldn’t believe it, butof course, I couldn’t tell Johnny then because I would soundlike a fool! So I had to bite my tongue and shut up.

Let me add that I sometimes do a variation of what you seeon the video. Although the idea of allowing the spectator toguess what pocket each card is in is a very strong and enter-taining idea, I sometimes vary that just to be different or if Iam not feeling lucky that night! What I will sometimes do in-stead is to let the person remove three cards, one at a time, andput them in three different pockets. I turn away as he doesthis, but not enough so that I can’t see what pocket each cardgoes into. Then I turn back and put the deck away (doing thework). After I have computed the cards in my head, I ask theperson to touch any pocket that has a card in it. I then hold myhand near that pocket (as I do with the cards in the CorindaEffect) and then name the card. I repeat the same thing withthe other two cards.

Yes, you do loose that added element of the spectator choos-ing the card and pocket, but you gain the advantage of the “3”


factor in effect and never have to worry about missing.Another variation I sometimes use, similar to the above, is

the Tarbell/Annemann idea of having a spectator remove threecards and place them into his inside jacket pocket. If he reachesin quickly, he will almost always remove the cards in order!Much can be made of that and this is another effect I have seenKreskin use with great result.

So, as you see, there are all kinds of variations on this basicidea. Those I have mentioned use just one spectator. Othervariations with multiple spectators work well with smaller au-diences in the parlor setting if you want to get many peopleinvolved. Hopefully all of this, and what follows, will get yourcreative juices flowing!

Analysis

You can see that after the Jumbo Card Calling and the jokeabout getting up a card game, I continue my talk about gam-bling. You can hear the murmuring in the background when Imention how good that ability (that I just demonstrated) wouldbe in a game of Poker. Then I start to talk about Blackjack andhow mindreading would be of no help there. Notice please howI have, after the fact, basically told them I just did mindreadingwithout ever having it said it before and in such a way that it isjust accepted! I also tell the story about being banned fromplaying Blackjack in two casinos and mention one in MonteCarlo in an off-hand manner as though this were a place justdown the street! Again, this is all very prestige building andgives the feeling I move in Bond-type environments!

As I talk about the game of Blackjack, I make it clear thatreading someone’s mind wouldn’t help in any way (again rein-forcing what I said earlier) and then explain that I seem tohave this ability to win at Blackjack. Notice that I do not ex-


plain what the ability is, but just that I have it! This is so in-triguing to a normal person. In truth, most people would muchrather just have the ability to win at Blackjack without evenknowing how than the ability to count cards, etc. See, that’swork. Isn’t it just so much nicer to just win somehow?

It is interesting to look back after many years at Mind Mys-teries and try to remember exactly what I was thinking as I didcertain things. I believe as I was talking, I was thinking aboutusing the guy in the front in shorts to help me with this. Hehad said he often plays cards and I think I felt I owed it to hima bit since I skipped right over him earlier and chose Margaret.I still was wondering if he might be a magician and was plan-ning just how I would handle him.

After asking him up, I position him on my left.As a little aside here, let me explain why I repositioned

people a number of times from my right to my left during thesevideos. Traditionally, I usually have my volunteers stand at myright. Since I am right-handed, I find it easier to do my centertear, swami effects, etc. with the person on that side and auto-matically position an assistant there. Because of the audienceset up and the arrangement of the cameras, however, I had toreverse that positioning and have them on my left. These arethe kinds of minor details you have to constantly be aware ofand be willing to be flexible with.

I always keep the Jokers in my decks. This always seemedto me to make the deck appear more ordinary and, on a prac-tical note, it keeps the cards flatter and newer looking in thecase. (There are also numerous possibilities for crib sheets onthe Jokers.) Now I want to cover a very important lesson. No-tice how I spread the cards for him (twice!) to look over beforeI begin and what I say! “Look, you can see the cards are prettywell mixed up,” and he says, “Yeah, they really are!” Please payattention to the look on his face. You can see he really believesthey are totally mixed. This is because of what I talked aboutearlier. The groupings of the duplicate values and all the rest of


the randomness of the Breakthrough Card System is what doesit! Subconsciously, it just radiates innocence. When I go intothe false shuffle and start talking about how I am going to simu-late a game of Blackjack, there is just no question of him want-ing to shuffle the cards. Suspicion is also nullified by instantlyplacing the cards in his hands.

I am going to backtrack here for a second to show you some-thing that is profound during this performance. I guaranteeyou that once I explain this, your mouth is going to fall open abit in amazement when you understand the psychology.

When the gentleman comes up next to me, notice he iswearing shorts. Please understand that most of the audiencemembers are local residents who dress this way in Lake Tahoe.In addition, many do not really know what kind of performancethey are going to and what to expect. Some magicians mighthave made a comment like, “I see you dressed for the occa-sion!” That would be insulting and, even if said in a light man-ner, would play on that person’s mind and the audience in gen-eral. That is one tiny step in them not liking you quite as much.Please don’t do this kind of thing.

What I did do, however, was far more important and cun-ning! Remember how I told you I was a bit apprehensive aboutthis person and what he might do? I want him to follow myinstructions to the letter so I used a little psychological trickon him to put him just a bit off ease. As I shuffle the cards andbegin to talk to him, notice how I look directly at his legs.Watch his reaction to my gaze! Did you see it? That slight shufflehe makes shows he is aware of my stare and is just a bit put offby it. He feels conspicuous at that moment with nowhere tohide! When I put the cards into his hand to have him cut them,he is relieved because the attention shifts to the cards and theeffect. The heat is now off him and he is more than willing tofollow my instructions to keep it that way! Do you see whatthat slight maneuver accomplished and isn’t that so much bet-ter than insulting him?


When I turn my back to the spectator as he cuts the cards,it adds greatly to the effect. I use this strategy often as it is sostrong. There is just something about the mentalist having hisback to the spectator that seems to imply it is impossible tocheat. When I ask him if he is satisfied, I notice now that heactually looked at the face of the cards. If I had seen him doingthat, I would have insisted he cut the cards again. But, hereagain, the Breakthrough Card System comes through with fly-ing colors as a quick glimpse at the order of the cards com-pletely satisfies him that the cards are well mixed.

As he puts the cards in his pockets, I joke a bit with theaudience. I ask them if he did it. It is a small thing but, onceagain, implies I cannot see a thing. Then I immediately ask,“Fair?” and they all respond with a “Yes.” I talked about this inthe first guide book, but I want to replay the reasoning just abit. By getting them to admit everything is fair, they will havenowhere to go in a few minutes. Some may be expecting fur-ther actions to take place before I do whatever it is I am goingto. Up to now, nothing has happened that looks suspicious inany way. So when that doesn’t happen, the effect jumps into acompletely different realm than ordinary card tricks! The onlyplace trickery could seem to take place is with the rest of thedeck. But that possibility is quickly eliminated when I have thegentleman put the rest of the deck into the box and when Ihand it off to another person.

To drive this entirely home, I take the time to go over ev-erything that has happened. Notice how I subtly substitute theword mix for cut when describing what he did with the deck!This same subtleness is apparent when I say that he took twocards and put them into his pockets. That is true, but theywere the top two. The recap seems to imply they could havebeen any two! The whole point is to get them to say, “Yes,everything is fair!” and agree with the slight modifications Ihave made in the re-telling!

Again I reiterate that even if I could read his mind, it


wouldn’t help me anyway. At this point, John makes the funnycomment, “It would be blank anyway!” It gets a laugh, which isfine, but I do not say a word. You can see me thinking and mydecision here is to just let it play and move on with the effect.I don’t want to slow things down here and put a gap betweenthe proving process and the culmination of the effect.

I mention again that I do not know how I do this and reallycan’t explain the process (which I talked about before) andthen, without any further hesitation, I name the cards!

The camera does not show the audience at this time, butlet me tell you the look on their faces was astonishment. I amsure they expected some other maneuver to take place so that,when I just name the cards, they are startled.

I also want to point out how I made sure to tell him not totake out the cards from his pockets as I named them. Manyyears of experience has taught me that if I don’t say that here,some will take out the cards prematurely.

The cards are the 7 of Spades and the 2 of Spades. Again,the BCS provides 2 cards that just do not seem to be in anyway related to each other and could not be part of some stack!I repeat the names – in order – a second time.

Finally I look him right in the eyes, pause, and say, “Whatcards do you want to be in what pocket?” Now let me analyzethe timing and reasoning here to explain why they almost al-ways name the right cards. I have told him not to remove thecards. Then I look at him in the eyes, but say nothing. He iswondering, “What does he want me to do?” Then, when I say,“What cards do you want to be in what pocket?” he has to bethinking, “What does he mean by that? Does he mean the twocards he just named? What were they again? The 7 of Spadesand the 2 of Spades? Yes, I guess that’s what he means!” Afterall, is it any wonder he will follow the line of least resistanceand call the first card for the first pocket (the right is always thefirst!) and the other for the left?

As soon as he says the 7 of Spades is in his right pocket, my


mood changes. It becomes serious. I say, “You say the 7 ofSpades is in that pocket? Then take it out!” You can almostsee the “you’re kidding!” expression on his face as he reachesfor it. When he comes out with the 7, the reaction of the audi-ence has to be one of the best ones ever on any magic video!Since there is no bettering this reaction, I immediately havehim take out the 2 from the other pocket and let that reactionjust blend into the first!

As I thank him and lead him back to his seat I ask for around of applause for him. I haven’t mentioned this before,but this is mandatory with all your assistants. I cannot imagineany performer not doing so for anyone willing to come up onstage and help them.

Finally, to finish, notice how I retrieve the cased deck Igave out earlier. Since I never told that person to open the caseand inspect them, I know they will still be all set to go. Butgiving them out and taking them back again just adds one moreelement of mystery than if I had just put them down on thetable.

CHALLENGE MIND READING

History

When I developed the Breakthrough Card System, I sent adeck to Jeff Busby, told him it was stacked, and challenged himto figure it out. When he couldn’t, I sent him the instructions.He was so taken with the system (and perhaps afraid that some-one else might publish it before him!) that he took my originalmanuscript and published it word for word. I had included justone effect in the instructions. It was from Corinda’s 13 Stepsto Mentalism and was in the section Some More Tricks Usingthe Eight Kings Stack. It was meant to be demonstrative of thetypes of effects possible with the BCS.

Ken Krenzel gave me a call after the book was released,praising the system and offering two other effects to use withit. The first one was called Test Conditions and the secondTest Conditions II. Both are found in the 25th Anniversaryedition of The Breakthrough Card System. Somehow, Test Con-ditions became Challenge Mind Reading on these videos! Ican’t even tell you how. I didn’t even notice until the videoshad been out for awhile! (Test Conditions II did retain its nameand that can be found on Volume 7 of this series.)

When Ken first explained this effect to me, his idea was touse two decks, one for the spectator and one for the mentalistto demonstrate with. I never liked that idea and decided to usethe two Jokers from the deck instead. Over the years, I dis-pensed with them also and just use my two hands as seen inthe video.

The test conditions idea was one I devised almost immedi-ately. I cannot remember doing it differently. Somehow my in-stinct told me that if I were going to require the spectator to gothrough all these steps, there ought to be a good reason for it.What I came up with is the best reason of all – to make sure I


don’t cheat!I love magic and I love the kind of logic that can cause the

greatest amount of misthinking! (I just invented that word...)In this effect, you have a whole series of actions that are, inreality, quite demanding, and yet make the effect look like oneof the purest and most direct demonstrations of mindreadingimaginable!

You got to love it!

Analysis

Let me begin with an apology. I called Brittany – Cassandra!That was foolish and it was a mistake. A person on one of theforums attacked me for doing the same thing on a later video.His take was that any person who could the things I do shouldnever forget a person’s name as it blows the whole image!

If I can offer the tiniest of excuses, the order of the effectson Mind Mysteries Volume 2 is not what I would normally doin a show. As mentioned in the first guide book, we wanted tokeep all the Breakthrough Card System effects on one video tomake it self-contained. I was paying a lot of attention to theflow of effects and slipped a bit with my memory. Since it hap-pened, however, perhaps I can offer a small redeeming thoughtthat may help you to forgive me a bit and give some advice atthe same time.

Because the character I play is one of an everyday personwho somehow can just do these things, I leave myself room fora certain number of slipups. I am normal and normal peopleare not perfect. After the mistake, by turning to the audienceand saying, “I’m a mentalist!” I get a nice laugh and we justmove on. It shows I am human and am willing to laugh atmyself. This is an advantage of using a normal guy image. Au-diences are more forgiving. If Max Maven did that (and, of


course, he wouldn’t but, if he did...), it would be a little moredifficult to recover. The know-it-all attitude of his character(that’s what the word “maven” means) would make the mis-take more serious. This might be something to consider whenchoosing your performing persona. Back to the videos...

When I get Brittany up next to me, I give the speech aboutdesigning something that would meet test conditions. That isthe reason I give for doing this effect and I turn it into a littlejoke by saying, “What I mean by that is so none of you will goback home and say, ‘Maybe the guy did this – maybe he didthat...’” If you think about it, there are only two ways you cantake that above line. Either I am claiming to have real ESP andam offering to prove it conclusively, or I am claiming that nomatter how hard they try, they will not figure this out! Eitherway is OK with me and even the ambiguity of the statementworks to my favor. It’s somehow a funny line and if you lookclose, it brings a smile to everyone’s face. I immediately followthat up by saying to Brittany, “But I need you to follow myinstructions to the letter. Do you agree with that?” Then I waitfor her to shake her head, “Yes.” It has been my experiencethat most people in the audience and those who you get up onstage are honorable. If they agree to help and do what you ask,99% of the time they will. Usually this is just implied, but inthis routine, I come right out and ask for it. In addition tomaking sure this routine will go smoothly, it also helps withthe control factor for the rest of the show. I talked about this inlength in the first guide book. Basically, this type of patter getsthe audience used to following my instructions – to the letter!

Notice how I reposition Brittany when I get the thoughtthat since there is a camera behind her, she had better move sonothing will see what she’s doing. This is just another form ofthe cancellation principle. It implies that I want to cancel outevery possible way the audience might think I could cheat!

I ask her to think of a card and, as I am asking this, I amshuffling the cards. Let me dwell on this for a second. The fact


that the cards are mixed and shuffled is constantly implied as Iwork. Asking Brittany to think of a card, not the Ace, keeps hermind occupied while I casually shuffle the deck. It goes bywithout anyone even questioning that they are being mixed. Itseems secondary and no one pays it any attention. This is ver-bal and mental misdirection at work. A person cannot occupytheir mind on an important thought and still be trying to care-fully analyze everything you are doing. Having John cut thecards after the shuffle is just what card players always do andexpect to guarantee the cards are mixed. Magicians might lookat that and think, “It’s just a cut,” but card players look at thatand think, “OK, he can’t cheat!” Always think like a lay per-son!

I go into the routine and all the performing details are de-scribed on the video. Notice how I make sure I tell her to stopwhen she sees her card and not close up the fan. If you don’t,they will.

Now I want to talk about a part of this routine that hastremendous overlap in general magical thinking and needs tobe addressed. I am constantly reading on the magic forumshow this or that needs to be more logical. “It is not logical torip up the paper!” “It is not logical to have something writtendown!” “It is not logical to use a book to read someone’s mind!”I respectfully say, “Hogwash!” Look at the blatant illogic inthis routine that goes unnoticed! First, I talk about all this testcondition stuff and base the whole effect (and its secret) on avery involved procedure in order to keep the back of the cardout of sight. Then, and pay attention to this, I ask her to slideit off the face of the deck and bury it in the middle of the deck!Think about it. Doing that allows the back of the selection tobe seen which completely negates all the reasoning for whatwent before! On top of everything else, this comes right afterthe long explanation of why I do not want the back of the cardto be seen! And yet, not a single person questioned it. It justflies right by without a word being said. And it always flies right


by. Then, to add insult to injury, I actually challenge theaudience’s reasoning by saying, “Fair?” They not only agree,but you can hear someone say, “Very fair!”

Such is logic in magic!For years I have been saying that if you keep some distance

between you and the spectator, they will lower their guard. It’sas though they don’t think you can see from more than a fewfeet away! Here, Brittany does just what I have written thatspectators do all the time. She flashes the bottom card of thedeck to me! As soon as I see it, I make the most out of it byhanding the card box to her and letting her put the cards awayherself. This is the kind of dynamic that jumps your magic tennotches above the norm. With the factor that you didn’t touchthe cards or see a single one, this routine now really becomestotally impossible! The line, “Is that fair? Man, I wish I coulddo this one!” is just my little way of driving home what I justsaid about the impossibility of the effect while getting a nicelaugh at the same time.

I now add a line that is very important and might be over-looked if I don’t point it out. When I say, “No one knows thecard except you. So you could lie and blow everything,” that isa very cutesy and funny way of telling her, do not lie! The situ-ation really is such that she could mess you up big time by justnot telling the truth, either permanently or long enough toruin the punch of the effect. This routine depends on her notdoing that. This line makes it work!

When I ask her if it would impress her if I took the deck,found the card and handed it to her, she says, “Yes,” I want herand the audience to believe, just for a second, that’s what I willdo. Then when I say, “Let’s not use the cards. Just think ofyour card,” the audience hardly has time to react to the impos-sibility of that when I say, “Two of Hearts!” The climax comesout of the blue! You can almost tell that even if Brittany hadintended to mess things up, her own surprise is uncontrollable!I put on my Jack Benny face at that point as though I’m think-


ing, “Of course I can do this. I do it all the time!”Look at the expression on Janelle’s face at that moment. I

can’t believe some people say that the L&L audience is staged!The finest actress in the world couldn’t come up with that ex-pression! And look at how, at the last minute, Brittany actuallyturns around to check that there is no camera or someone be-hind her! It is priceless!

Finally, I give the deck to her to take back to her seat. Anythoughts of a special “magic trick” deck of cards are evapo-rated!

CORINDA EFFECT

History

I explained the history of the first Breakthrough Card Sys-tem book in the last chapter. When I was writing it up to sendto Jeff Busby, I wanted to send along an effect. I had begun todo the one found in Corinda’s 13 Steps called Some MoreTricks Using the Eight Kings Stack, as already mentioned. It isinteresting to see how the routine progressed over the years. Ifyou look up the effect in your copy (that would be page 75),you will see the effect is nothing more than a mere paragraph.The deck is placed behind the spectator’s back, a card reversedand the face-up deck placed on the table.

In my original manuscript to Busby, I had already come upwith the idea of catching a peek at the face card as the specta-tor brings the deck forward and then had him cover the deckwith his hands. So, you can see, right from the beginning, I wasadding to the effect, trying to make it stronger.

I can’t actually tell you where along the 20+ year history Ibegan to do the effect at a table. I really can’t remember whenI didn’t, so it must have been a long time ago. In thinking back,I realize it must have been during the six-year stint doing close-up magic at the Farmington, Connecticut Marriott’s elaborateSunday brunch. Many of my present ideas had their start there.

I used the card case to have the deck covered on the videos.In truth, when I do this at live shows, there is usually a napkinor a menu sitting on the table that can be used. That looksmore impressive and more natural.

Somewhere along the line, I also came up with the idea ofhaving the person turn over either the top or bottom card. Thismay seem like a minor point, but again, that is magician’s think-ing. It is a big point to a lay audience and seems as though youreally don’t care what card they turn over. Since they repeat-


edly cut the deck themselves, offering the top or bottom card isjust like offering any card in the deck. Don’t leave out thissubtlety!

This routine really does play strong. I don’t do it all thetime anymore. Most of my close-up work uses the Radar Deckand the Test Conditions (Challenge Mind Reading) effect. Ionly use this one for that really special person, perhaps theCEO of the company, and his table. That way it becomes reallyspecial.

As a bit of a sidenote to that, I remember when I first per-formed this routine for Governor Lowell Weicker of Connecti-cut. Up to that time, he seemed to be taking me with a grain ofsalt. I did a few things and then did this effect. When I namedthe card, he looked at me and said, “No way!” I just smiled andmotioned for him to turn over the card. When he did, what hesaid can’t be printed here! Governor Weicker never mincedwords! After that, I was a regular performer at the Governor’sMansion!

May this effect do the same for you!

Analysis

There is a slight break in the video so that we can reset thestage with the table. Notice how I am standing while the rest ofmy spectators are sitting. I want to point out that in 99% ofreal-world working conditions that is the situation when doingwalk-around performing.

I was talking to Jim Sisti about this recently and he con-firmed that, like me, even if someone has you sit down at theirtable to talk awhile, when it comes time to perform, he, likeme, stands! Also notice that even though there is a table present,I still do the false shuffle on my knee. This probably comesfrom years of performing table magic where, instead of a neat


empty table, it is strewn with dishes, glasses, etc.After choosing Janelle to help me, I explain that in a mo-

ment she is going to place the cards under the table. I do thisbecause, in real life, when I perform this effect at dinners, thatperson sometimes has to adjust their chair, remove the napkinon their lap, adjust their purse on the floor, or whatever. I takecare of that now so as not to delay the effect later.

Now here comes another reason for the superiority of therandomness of the Breakthrough Card System. I ask Janelle tolook through the deck to make sure no cards are turned over.To do this, she has to fan through the entire deck. Not onlydoes this add to the effect, but once again, it allows her to seethe completely random order of the cards!

I have her cut the deck a couple of times above the tablebefore she puts them underneath. Sometimes, when I am do-ing this routine, I mention that the reason I want them to prac-tice cutting the cards is because, in a moment, they are going tobe doing it under the table and I don’t want to get down on myhands and knees picking up dropped cards!

Then I have her place the cards under the table for morecutting. Notice how many times I have her cut the deck. Hereagain, magicians think, “It doesn’t matter. They are just cuts.”That’s not how a lay audience thinks. In their minds, it is,“The more they cut, the more mixed up they are!”

As mentioned in the previous chapter, I now give Janellethe choice of reversing either the top or bottom card. It doesn’tmatter, of course, but looks like I am giving her even morefreedom. After she does this I ask her to turn over the wholedeck, so “when you put them down, even if they slide, yourcard will be face down in a face up deck.” Please notice howthat sentence not only gives a reason for her actions, but alsotells her what she will be doing in a moment and clearly illus-trates that she will be putting the deck on the table face up. Iam about to get a peek and I don’t want her to do anything elseexcept to place the deck that way on the table. If she knows


what she is expected to do, when I ask her to do it, she will bementally prepared and not fumble. This, in turn, will allow meto keep my timing in tune with her actions.

When I do tell her to put the cards on the table, look athow I am standing and where my gaze is. Notice how quickly Iglance down at the face card and then look away. Also replaythe video and watch where everyone else’s eyes are at that mo-ment! You will see them all looking down at the deck with ab-solutely no chance to see where I am looking! By the timeanyone looks up, I am far away on the other side of the table.Also, by telling them to cover the cards with the case, it psy-chologically implies that I must not have seen the cards al-ready and that is to prevent me from doing so in the future.

We are all set for the finish, but before I go there, I recap! Ido so in this routine since I want to build up, once again, thecomplete impossibility of what has happened. In the previouseffect with Brittany, I was lucky enough to see the face cardwithout touching the deck. That sometimes happens, but youcan’t count on it. In this routine, however, it always happensthat I do not touch the deck or go anywhere near it. I want tomake the most out of it and always go over all the impossibleconditions I have imposed on myself! You might also noticethat, during this recap, I mention how Janelle had reversed anycard of her choice and buried it upside down. Doesn’t thatsound like she just grabbed any card in the deck and reversedit? Again, it’s these little things that add up to big things! I alsogo through the whole bit about being on the other side of thetable and no one, certainly not me, could have seen the card.And, of course, I end with, “Is that fair?”

On a sidenote, you have to remember that we had reset thestaging and some time had elapsed between this effect and theearlier routines. That’s why I used the same line, “I wish Icould do this one!” again. In truth, this is the effect where Inormally use that line and where it plays best. I think, in retro-spect, I used it during Challenge Mind Reading because I did


catch that glimpse!Sometimes actions speak much louder than words. Watch

how after all the joking; I suddenly just hold my hand over thedeck, pause, and just say, “Three of Clubs!” Please look at theaudience reaction at that moment. They are stunned that I justnamed the card like that! They really weren’t prepared for itand it catches them totally off guard. You can see it clearly intheir facial expressions and their actions. It’s almost as thoughthey think I might be kidding! Then, when I tell Janelle tospread the cards and see, they know I am not!

When Janelle finally turns over that card, there is nothingleft to do but smile!

BLACKJACK DEMONSTRATION

History

I have to be honest and tell you I cannot remember when Ifirst thought up this effect. I have no idea no matter how muchI search my memory. (Harry – help me!)

I do remember doing it many times, one year, in hospitalitysuites in Canada. The president of the company I was workingfor was completely taken aback by my work. After our ownhospitality suite closed down, he dragged me around all theother hospitality suites in our hotel! I remember having 4 BCSstacked decks in my small case and I went through all of thembefore we finished. Each time, I would make a big deal of clear-ing off a table and gathering everyone around for the demo. Itkilled all night long!

You can expect that there will be people who will reallywant to take you to the Casino after you do this routine. A yearlater, after the above happened, I was almost forced to go witha group to a casino on a riverboat and play Blackjack for them!Luckily, everything worked out well and I came out a winner,even if everyone else didn’t!

I already mentioned this earlier, but I have to say this again.If you were a newcomer to magic and read only the commentson the Internet forums, you would be led to believe that en-tirely different effects are the strongest you can do in card work.Again, the leader these days seems to be Any Card at Any Num-ber. That is constantly mentioned as the ultimate card miracleand the greatest achievement possible with a deck. Well, peoplehave a right to think what they want, but I know the truth.There is nothing better for a lay audience than giving the im-pression you can win at gambling! That shows value and notjust something that is clever. A good Poker demonstration iswonderful, and I know a great one, but I still prefer the Black-


jack Demonstration. For a mentalist, it is the epitome since itinvolves brain work rather than card slinging. That also seemsto appeal to the greatest number of gamblers who understandall the intricacies of the game.

The Blackjack Demonstration also has the advantage oflooking just like a real game of Blackjack played with a singledeck. Unlike some gambling demonstrations which mightstretch just how a particular game is played, this is the waypeople play Blackjack in their homes and the way it was playedin Casinos before the shoe and multiple decks came into be-ing. It is fun and challenging to do and always comes out adifferent way. If you can think far enough ahead, you can dosome profound things. I have had instances where I have hadtwo people stand on hands like a 7 or 10, knowing that wouldlater cause the dealer to bust! It is so gratifying to hear peoplesaying things like, “What, are you crazy?” only to show themyou knew what you were doing all along.

This is a wonderful routine! Please do it justice! Oh, andyes, I know what you’re wondering. I really was banned fromtwo Casinos!

Analysis

When I begin this routine, I once again talk about my be-ing banned in certain casinos. Remember, I normally wouldnot do all these routines in one sitting. Also, the Card Callingroutine is used in my stage act so any duplication of patter is ina different performing environment. It is quite alright to saythe same thing on stage that you said earlier to a few peoplewhen doing close up. It is, in fact, a good thing as those peoplewill be saying to their friends, “Yes, he told us earlier how he isbanned from playing Blackjack!”

When I begin the routine, notice how far I am standing


away from Annie and I don’t even appear to see what the cardis that she is turning face up and burying in the deck. In truth,I don’t think it would even matter to most people, but if some-one was looking, it appears I haven’t even seen that. You cansee how I turn my head away at that point.

I direct Annie to deal the cards the way I need them forwhatever amount of spectators I will be using. I sometimesactually do this with up to five people playing the game besidesthe dealer. Notice how I instruct her to put the rest of the deckdown when she is finished. She doesn’t do it at first, but Imake her do it before I move on. I don’t want her absentmind-edly cutting the cards or dropping them!

When I begin with the actual demonstration, I haveCassandra secretly look at her hole card and then tell her whatshe is holding. Notice that this has nothing to do with the Black-jack routine and is for effect only. In a real game, it wouldn’tmatter if I knew what the hole cards were and it wouldn’t helpmy play at all, but it is a vital part of the routine and just rein-forces my powers! Since I always do this routine after doing afew others, it only comes as a “half surprise” that I can do this!It also reinforces the mental giant theme that I hope I havedeveloped by now. Remember, I make it a point to stress that Iwon’t explain how I can win at Blackjack and the telepathyportion of this routine further enhances that confusion!Cassandra has a 17 and I advise her to stay.

When I turn to Janelle, she peeks at her hole card quickly.I know what it is, of course, but because she looked at it so fast(I saw that out of the corner of my eye), I ask her to look at itagain. I want to portray the fact that such a fleeting glance wasnot long enough for me to pick up on the exact card. I oftenhave someone think of something a second time and look a bittroubled as though I’m not sure if I got it right the first time.That adds so much realism.

She has 15 and I tell her she looked at a black King. Noticethat with both her and Cassandra, I do not name the exact


card. Just the value and color are enough for now. That looksbetter and not too perfect. It gets as good, or better, a reactionthan if I had named the suit, too.

I ask Janelle if she should hit the 15. I always do that withan iffy hand. She says, “You tell me!” and that’s just what Iwant! At this point, I want the players to be asking me whatcards to hit and how to play their game. If I can get them there,it means they have surrendered themselves completely to thebelief that I am the supreme master of Blackjack and anythingI say, goes!

Notice here that I tell Janelle that she should probably takea hit and that she should wind up with about 20. I do not sayshe will get a 5, but that she will wind up with about 20. I wantthe audience themselves to do the figuring, small as it is, sothat they deduce she needs a 5. Also notice how, at this point,I make mention of the dealer’s Ace and how she needs to playaggressively because of it. I also mention how I feel good aboutthe hit because of the other cards showing.

All of this implies I am doing some kind of card countingwithout my actually saying so. If anyone is bothering to try tofigure this all out, I am now using telepathy, some kind of clair-voyant sense about how the cards will come up, and traditionalmethods of card counting all rolled up into one! As I said inthe beginning, “I will try to explain what I am doing, but it is alittle complicated!”

Just before Janelle is dealt the card, I say that she might geta 19 or 20. This is different from what I said before. I first saidit would be a 20. The little bit of hedging with the 19 makes italmost sound as if I am backing off a bit and am not sure ofmyself. I want that because, a moment later when she gets the5, it vindicates me!

Now we come to John. He is lucky enough to catch a Black-jack, but I don’t say it. Instead I say, “Oh, that’s good!” That iseven better than saying what it is! It plays like I just had aninstantaneous conversation with John where his mind said,


“Blackjack!” and I say, “Oh, that’s good!” Nothing more needsto be said and I don’t. Instead I just let him turn over the holecard and show everyone what it is. When the Ace appears, it isevident to everyone what I meant by my comment. He stays,of course.

Now I get to Annie and announce that she has a soft 14.She turns over the hole card to show it is so. I have to tell you,my mind is racing here to figure out what will happen and howI can best play up the ending. I, in fact, have a perfect setupgoing that could not be better. I am thinking, “Man, this isgoing to be so good!”

And then I blow it!See, I know that the next two cards coming up will be the

Jack of Hearts followed by the Queen of Clubs! That meansthe dealer will go from a soft 14 to a hard 14 then bust withanother 10! It is perfect since all three players will win and thedealer will go from what at first appeared could be a Blackjackto a bust! Perfect!

Knowing all this, I go into a huge build up of how everyonelikes to play with me as I somehow can control the dealer tobust so often. I have everyone right in the palm of my handand am all set for the huge finale! Then, because I have gottenso wrapped up in this perfect ending, I announce that Anniewill draw a red Jack and, when she does, I jump the gun andannounce, “You bust! You win!” Everyone does applaud, but,months later, when I get the first copies of the video, I look atthis routine and think, “You imbecile! You blew it big time!”And I did.

I suppose the lesson to be learned here is to keep yourcool. Good as the ending was, can you imagine how much bet-ter it would have been if I kept it going?

After the first Jack, I could have talked about how unlikelythe dealer would be in drawing another high card. I could havementioned how often this happens in Casinos and the dealerwinds up with 21. Then I could have said that I would stick to


my feelings and believe another picture card was coming, per-haps a black Queen. That would have been great.

Hopefully, you will never make such a blunder!

A BREAKTHROUGH BONUS

The Poker Demonstration

Many of the newer memorized deck systems are laudedbecause they contain built-in effects such as Poker demonstra-tions, spelling effects, etc. Although I have great respect forthese stacks, I have already stated my viewpoint concerningwhat I believe is necessary and what is not. With that said, Iam reluctantly offering this routine with the Breakthrough CardSystem. I say, reluctantly, because I do not want the merits ofthe system to be based on the following routine or anythingsimilar. The Breakthrough Card System is remarkable for whatit is and that is enough. Still, what follows can be a powerfultool to have at your disposal. It is integral in the system.

The Poker Demonstration is offered as a companion effectto the Blackjack Demonstration. It is similar in that it is meantto be done at the end of the night and built into an incrediblecloser! The Blackjack Demonstration was designed to look justlike a real demonstration of a single-deck version of that gameand is what gives it its strength. The Poker Demonstration,likewise, is meant to look exactly like a real game of Draw Poker.It does not come across as contrived and has a feeling of com-plete fairness. Still, the incredible climax is all that you couldwant from such a routine.

Once again, because of the randomness of the BCS, it fol-lows that any ingrained effects will also look like the legitimatething. This game of Poker has all the little nuances that hap-pen so often in real Poker and yet the unexpectedness of adazzling finish. Like the Poker game in the classic movie, TheSting, this routine has everything you could want.

What makes this Poker Demonstration so powerful is thatit really is a game of Draw Poker. Each player can stay or toss inhis cards and each can draw as many cards as he likes. The


dealer discards three cards during the draw and the cards dealtto him are determined by the other’s play. That he can still winseems incredible!

Two versions for the routine are offered. The first is totallyself-working while the second incorporates some traditional cardartifice that makes it look even better!

It is being released here for the first time.

The Corner Short

I have been using the Breakthrough Card System constantlyfrom the day I devised it. I have always felt that the effectspossible with a stacked deck were staggering and I hope thatthose I have demonstrated on the Mind Mysteries video seriesand discussed in these pages show that to be true. In all hon-esty, I often use nothing but the BCS for my professional per-formances and never feel lacking in suitable material. I do,however, know a wealth of other card magic that is not depen-dent upon a stacked deck. I use that material as well.

One of my favorite subterfuges with a deck of cards is theuse of a corner short. The classic tome, The Fine Art of Magicby George Kaplan, contains some astounding material in thechapter entitled Tricks Employing the Corner Short. If youdon’t already own the above book, may I suggest that you ob-tain one as soon as possible. All the material in it is of thehighest quality and the card work alone is well worth the priceof the book. I always keep a corner short in my decks includingthose stacked in the Breakthrough Card System order. Shouldthe cards be dropped, accidentally mixed up or if I just get theurge to do something different, I know I am always ready to gowith material that matches my other effects in strength anddeceptiveness. Because of the routine I am about to explain,my corner short is always the 8 of Spades.


While I am talking about the corner short, let me tell youabout a helpful device known as a corner rounder. This is soldin craft stores and is used for cutting perfectly round cornerson photos, etc. It is also tailor made for making a corner shortcard! You simply slide the card into the device, press the topdown and you are done. You must, of course, trim the innerleft corner of the face down card and the outer right cornerwhich is diagonally opposite. This is thoroughly explained inThe Fine Art of Magic and other card books.

The Poker Demonstration

Like the Blackjack Demonstration, this routine should beused at the end of the night for the finale. You must get a cleartable with five chairs around it. You will, in fact, be acting asthe dealer in a five-handed game of Draw Poker. The deck isstacked in the Breakthrough Card System order and shouldhave been used for other routines as demonstrated on MindMysteries. By the time you begin this routine, there should beno question that the deck is unprepared and thoroughly mixed.The only other additional preparation is that the 8 of Spades,as discussed earlier, is a corner short (I will give you some ad-vance handling tips after the main instructions).

Before you start, you must get four spectators who are fa-miliar with the game of Draw Poker and who believe they aregood players. Begin by seating everyone around the table. Yourown position is not important. You must explain that you willbe playing a very serious game of high-stakes Draw Poker andthat everyone should play as though their own money were atstake. You also mention this game will be the last of the nightand that the betting will be extremely high. Therefore, you cau-tion the players not to bet on bad hands and that, if they arenot even holding a pair, they should drop out. While you are


discussing all this, you are making the following moves.Holding the deck face up to show the randomness of the

deck, get a break under the Ace of Diamonds. Double cut thecards, bring the Ace to the bottom of the face-up deck and thenturn the deck face down. The Ace of Diamonds should now bethe top card of the face down deck.

Shuffle off six cards singly into your left hand and thenthrow the rest of the deck on top. (The goal is simply to reversethose top six cards of the deck and this small unobtrusive shuffledoes just that.)

Use your right thumb to riffle to the corner short and doublecut it to the top. Now finish with a few jog shuffles making surethat you only grab about twenty cards or less from the bottomof the deck. (I just use the bottom quarter of the deck to besafe.) You can, of course, substitute any false table shuffle, suchas a Zarrow Shuffle, that retains the entire order of the deck.Just make it look natural. A casual cut before you go into thedeal is also a very good idea – more about that later.)

Deal out the five hands in the traditional way. (I suggestyou turn the dealt cards face up during this explanation so youcan see the exact conditions of the cards.) Notice that Player 1will have two pairs; 8s and 3s. Player 2 has nothing. Player 3has a pair of Jacks. Player 4 has a pair of Queens and you havea pair of Aces. Ask the first player if he can open with Jacks orbetter. Of course he can and you tell him he should bet fivethousand dollars! Since no real money is being used, he will, ofcourse, do it.

Ask Player 2 if he can stay in with at least some kind ofpair. When he says no, have him throw in his cards. (Noticehow you control him to toss in his cards instead of giving himan option!)

Now ask Player 3 if he is in. He should say yes, as he has apair of Jacks. So tell him to toss in his five grand! (If he shouldsay he is out, simply say to him, “So I guess you don’t evenhave a pair?” When he says he does, coax him into staying in


the game. Believe me, this never happens and I am only givingyou some reassurance here.)

Turn to Player 4 and handle him the same way as Player 3.Since he has a pair of Queens, there is no problem.

Announce that you are in, too, and pretend to throw inyour money. (I always fan my cards in front of my eyes and leta couple of people take a peek!)

Now pick up the deck proper and ask the first person howmany cards he wants. He will say 1 and you should raise youreyebrows as you deal him that!

(Remember that Player 2 is out.)Player 3 will take three cards and so will Player 4.You announce that you will also take three cards and deal

them off to the side, but do not pick them up!Note: the first player will get no help. Player 2 is out. Player

3 will get no help, but, just like what so often happens in a realgame of Poker, he will draw two of the very same cards he justthrew away. This adds tremendous realism!

Player 4 will draw two more Queens; he now has four!And you, if you take a look, will have two more Aces! The

last two will separated by the 6 of Hearts.Go back around the table asking everyone how they want

to bet. You can have a lot of fun here and, hopefully, PlayerFour will start to raise his bets! Let him and try to prod theother players into raising him back! All the while, you shouldsay that you are happy with what you already saw and don’teven look at your own hand.

Finally, have each player show his hand. When you see thatPlayer 4 has four Queens, mention how you started out with apair of Aces. Turn them over. Then turn over the top card ofthe three face-down ones. It will be the Ace of Hearts! Thenturn over the next card. It is the 6 of Hearts. Act a bit nervousand then slowly turn over the last card. The Ace of Diamondscomes into view and the applause will be thunderous!

This routine plays so well because it really does resemble


how a real Poker game sometimes plays out. It is not too per-fect – just perfect enough! Again, this routine reminds me ofthe poker game in The Sting and I can almost hear the songThe Entertainer in the background!

The Expert Handling

Although I have tried to make the construction of the PokerDemonstration as real as possible, there are a couple smallpoints you may have realized are just a bit not quite Kosherand that can be improved upon with a bit of expert card han-dling. If any of the following handling scares you a bit, justremember that gamblers have a bit of an edge over magicians.Whereas audiences watch a magician constantly looking fortricks, most card players do not constantly scrutinize anotherplayer and therefore, the card cheat can make his moves withcaution and much misdirection. On the other hand, if the ma-gician is caught, he is a bad magician; if the card cheat is caught,he gets shot!

The first change we can make in the routine is that thedeck may be set without the use of a short card and without theshuffling being done out in the open. It can all happen whilethe players are being seated or even before that. Simply lookthrough the deck for the Ace of Diamonds, cut it to the top,run six cards and throw the rest of the deck onto them. Then,later, look through the deck for the 8 of Spades and cut it tothe top. You can do this right in the open as you play with thecards. In reality, it just looks like you are shuffling the cardsand casually looking through them while getting ready.

If you take this approach, you have to make your openingshuffles very convincing. Zarrow and other similar false shufflesshould be used and these must be practiced to perfection tolook like the real thing. You must do them with ease as you talk


about the game and set things up.One of the most common requirements used in gambling

is to have someone cut the deck just before the deal. In thefirst version of this routine, you did that yourself, but if youreally want to make this routine look real, you need to let some-one else cut the deck. Now, you may be wondering, “If some-one else cuts the deck, how can I do the routine?” The answeris simple – the Pass!

If you know your Erdnase, you will know that the Pass, orShift, can be used to reverse the action of the cut. Although hedoes not recommend it in fast company, it can be used in oursituation without too much worry. Since you are just demon-strating one Poker hand and are viewed as an entertainer, thescrutiny will be far less than if you were sitting at a real cardgame! As a matter of fact, most of the expert handling versionof this Poker Demonstration uses the Pass. It is a great way toforce yourself to practice and improve your skills.

You offer the deck to be cut to one of the players and theycut off half the deck. You complete the cut leaving a slight off-set as you pick up the deck. The offset allows you to catch abreak between the halves and perform the Pass as you ask aquestion or get some misdirection in some other way. (An al-ternative handling is to get the break as you complete the cutand do the Pass as your bring the cards off the table.)

The next improvement is not restricting the second player’schoices in any way. If he wants to stay in the game, you can lethim. Just remember, after the first player’s draw (he has to takejust one card) you have six cards above the cards you need.The first three don’t really matter, but the second three con-tain Player 4’s other two Queens. So, if the second person electsto play, you can give him up to three cards off the top of thedeck, but you have to replace these from the bottom of thedeck by use of the Pass. If, for instance, he takes three cards,after dealing him the cards, pick up a break over the three bot-tom cards and pass them to the top before moving on. This


sounds difficult, but it really isn’t. You deal him the cards andask him to pick them up. As eyes go to him to see his reaction,you have plenty of time to get things in order. You can alsochit-chat with Player 3 about how many cards he wants whileusing the time to make your adjustment. One try in a live situ-ation will show you just how easy it all is.

Finally, you will sometimes find that Player 3 may only wanttwo cards. Again, you must get rid of one top card by means ofthe Pass. You have to do it then as that is an indifferent card,not one of the twp under it which are the last two Queens. Thesame applies to Player 4. If he wants only two cards, fine. Theywill be Queens, but you have to bury the next card before deal-ing your own (or Second Deal). Giving all these options duringthe play makes your own outcome that much more remark-able.

Which method you use will depend upon your skill level.It is also possible to use parts of each to personalize the han-dling for yourself.

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