How to Do Tricks With Cards

Cards are all you need for lots of fun tricks.

Doing tricks with cards is a great way to amaze your friends and family. However, doing card tricks well requires practice and skill. These instructions cover a basic card trick that lends itself to countless fun variations.

Things You'll Need

• Deck of cards

Instructions

A Basic Card Sleight

1. Fan the cards out to a friend. Have him or her choose one, look at it and return it to the top of the deck.

2. Cut the deck so that the top half is in your right hand and the bottom in your left. This means that your friend's card is on the top of the right-hand stack. Place the bottom stack on the top stack, but keep your right thumb on the edge of the desired card. Then quickly cut the deck again with your left hand, so that the desired card is again on the top of the deck. You can repeat this step several times for effect.

3. Shuffle the cards, but do so carefully. The desired card should still be on the top of the deck. When you shuffle the two halves of the pack together, make sure that the top card remains on top by laying that card down last. If you're having trouble figuring out how this works, start by shuffling very slowly and speed up as you get the hang of the motion.

4. At this point, your friend's card should still be on top of the deck, despite all your fancy shuffling. Spread the deck out face up, noting which card was his, and then mix them all together. After looking puzzled for a moment, "magically" pull your friend's card from the middle of the mess.

Tips & Warnings

• The secret to making this card trick work is smoothness and speed. Your false shuffling and cutting needs to look natural in order to be authentic, so spend time with it so that your friends will truly be baffled. Start by practicing slow and work your way up.

• Using these same techniques, you can vary the routine (i.e. how you "magically" find the card) to make an almost endless supply of fun tricks and jokes. World class magicians Penn and Teller use a similar method for their famous Three of Clubs gags.

References

• How to Play with Your Food; Penn Jillette and Teller; 1992
• Howtodotricks.com

Resources

• More Online Card Trick Instructions