How to Perform the Chasing Aces Card Trick

This is a neat card trick that you'll surely be asked to do more than once.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tables
• Playing Cards
• Tables

The Trick

1. 

   Have a volunteer cut the deck into four piles.

2. 

   Shuffle the cards using a complicated process, and astound your audience: The top card on each pile is an ace.

How It's Done

3. 

   Prepare by secretly stashing the four aces on top of the deck.

4. Put the deck face down on the table.

5. 

   Say, "It's hard to know when I'm tricking you and when I'm not. To show you that I'm not, I'll let you cut the cards for me." Have your observer cut the cards in half, making two stacks.

6. 

   Say, "Now, cut that in half," pointing to the first stack, which has the aces on top. Put the new pile next to the original. Do the same with the other stack. You should now have four piles of cards in a row - and the pile on the end has the aces on top.

7. Say, "Let's mix them up even more, just to be sure."

8. 

   Point to the stack of cards at the opposite end from the one with the aces on top. Tell your observer that you're going to do the "New Orleans shuffle." Play this up - you learned it from an old voodoo lady, etc. Pick up the pile and put three cards face down in the spot where the stack just was.

9. 

   Now put one card on top of each of the other three piles and then return the rest of the pack to its original space, on top of the three cards.

10. Do the same thing with the next pile of cards, putting three cards into the empty space and one on each of the other three piles. Put the rest of the stack back on top of the three in the original space.

11. When you get to the stack next to the one with the aces on top, have your observer do the shuffle.

12. Let him do the last one as well. When he's finished, say, "Wouldn't it be something if, after all that shuffling, this top card is an ace?" Have him turn any top card over.

13. 

    Say slyly, "Hey, you know what would be really crazy?" Turn over the other top cards, which are also aces.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your eye on where the top of the original pile of cards ends up. That's the one with your aces on top.
• When you get to step 12, there are three non-ace cards on top of the four aces. Those three cards are placed in the empty space, the first three aces are dealt on top of the other three piles, and the last ace stays on top of the pile that is set on the three non-ace cards in the space. This puts an ace on top of each pile.

on 8/29/2006 It also helps to fake shuffle by splitting half the deck in each hand, keeping the top half, which has the four Aces. Then shuffle the bottom portion, but just seem to run out of cards, as the right hand goes faster in giving down cards. The four Aces will still be on top, but it'll seem like you have shuffled the deck.