How to Force a Card Trick

The best magicians are those who get their audience to do what they want, while all the time the audience thinks they are exercising free will. This is called "forcing." Forcing works really well with card tricks. The secret to forcing cards, or with any other trick, is the art of distraction or redirection.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Deck of cards
• Small table

1. Ask for a volunteer from your audience. Direct the volunteer to sit at a small table across from you. Give him the deck of cards and let him inspect them. A new pack that he has to open is a very good option.

2. Tell the volunteer to open the deck and shuffle the cards. Most people will shuffle the cards using the fan method. The fan method is when the deck is split in half and you place half the deck in your left hand and the other half in your right hand. You then thumb the cards, letting the edges of each overlap until you have gone through the deck. You then push the two halves back together into one complete deck. The interesting thing about this method is that most of the time, the one card that is on the bottom always stays on the bottom. The magician needs to glance at this bottom card and remember what it is.

3. Tell the volunteer to place the deck face down on your table once he is satisfied with the shuffling. When he puts the deck on the table, tell him to cut the deck into three stacks, leaving them face down on the table. The key in this step is to remember which of the three stacks is the bottom of the original deck.

4. Redirect or refocus your audience and your volunteer's attention. This is where the "magic" happens. A good technique is to remind the volunteer and the audience of all the steps that the volunteer went through to get to this point and have him verify the accuracy.

5. Bring your audience's attention back to the deck. Restack the cards (face down) in such a way that you will know where the bottom card is. First, lay one stack down. Next, lay the stack with the bottom card you saw on top of the first stack in a crosswise position. You now have two stacks of cards on top of each other in the shape of a cross. Then, take the third stack and place it on top of the other two in the same direction as the bottom stack. You now have a sandwich of cards. The middle layer with the bottom card you saw is in a direction opposite to the other two. You have just "forced" this middle layer on your volunteer.

Tips & Warnings

• Be a good storyteller. The art of magic is redirection. A good magician can tell a story or amusing anecdote while moving the cards into position. The redirection is enabling him to keep the audience focused on his story, not on analyzing the trick.
• Practice the trick on yourself in front of a mirror before you try it on someone else.