How to Flick a Card Out of a Deck
The most memorable part of a card magic trick is the reveal. This is the moment when the magician suprises the crowd by showing that he located the spectator's card. There are hundreds of ways to reveal a card, and flicking a card out of the deck is a popular method because it leaves the audience wondering how the chosen card is separated from the deck with a simple flick. Like all card magic, the card flick requires sleight of hand and misdirection to prepare and inertia to complete.
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Instructions
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Allow a spectator to choose a card and place it back in the deck. Use your false shuffle of choice to move the card to the top of the deck, then allow the spectator to cut the cards. Complete the cut, dropping the top half of the deck on the second half so they are not flush. The spectator's chosen card will be the first card on the second half, roughly in the middle of the deck.
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Pick up the deck with your right hand and hold the cut break with your thumb. Place the deck in your left hand and maintain the separation of the cut with a small pinky break between the top and bottom halves of the deck. Hold the deck face down in your palm with the break facing you, so no break is visible to the audience.
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Place your right hand over the top of the deck as though to square the deck. As you pretend to square up the cards, use the thumbnail of your right hand to push back the top card below the break--the spectator's card. This card should jog out from the rest of the deck about 1/4 inch or less. Drop your pinky break and hold the deck at a downward angle facing you so the audience cannot see the protruding card.
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Flick the protruding card with the thumb and middle finger of your right hand, while holding the deck with in your left hand. Inertia will force the spectator's card to pop out of the front of the deck.
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Retrieve the flicked card with your right hand and present it to the audience.
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Tips & Warnings
Practice in front of a mirror to achieve the correct angle so the audience can not see the protruding card.
Hold the deck loosely before flicking, and be sure that your fingers are not blocking the front of the deck.
Speed with card handling will come with practice.
Practice to determine the combination of how tightly to hold the cards and amount of flick force needed for the card to fly out of the deck. When you first attempt the trick, the card may not come out of the deck completely, but it will emerge, jogged from the other side of the deck. Keep practicing until you can consistently get the card to fly out of the deck.
The card has more potential to fly out when it is closer to the top of the deck because there is less weight of cards above it. A shallow cut by the spectator can work to your advantage.
Flick on the middle edge of the card at a slightly downward angle. Flicking a corner may cause it to become lost in the deck, and flicking from underneath can flip the entire top half of the deck.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit playing cards image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
