High Impact!

The Close-Up Card Magic of Peter Michael

 © COPYRIGHT 2004 by PETER MICHAEL
All rights reserved, including manufacturing of original items for resale. Performance rights are granted to
the purchaser. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, now known or to be invented, without express permission in writing.
Layout, cover and manuscript design by Peter Michael.
FIRST EDITION
 PROGRAM

You bring out your wallet and offer to display The World’s Most
Amazing Card Trick. If you fail, one lucky person gets the money in it.

A deck is shown and shuffled for a selection to be made. You do not

see or handle the card, and it is replaced and shuffled back into the
deck. Stating that the card is now a memory, you say you will attempt
to look through the deck and get an impression of it. You begin
dealing cards one at a time face-up onto the table. Failing to get an
impression, you fan the deck so everyone can see the faces of the
cards as you spread through them. Ask for the name of the card.
When it is revealed, it is also noted that the card is not in the deck at
all.

All that’s left is for the spectator to claim their prize money. When
they open your wallet and look inside, their card is staring them right
in the face.

CURTAIN CALL

The effect was born after I read a description of the ‘Vernon Miracle
Card Location’ and ‘Club Version’ from Early Vernon (Magic Inc.,
1962, pp.21-23). The leap from those two ideas to this one is so far
fetched, but such is the mind of an inventor.

The idea for using the wallet is credited to Kenton Knepper in

Kolossal Killer.

Here is what I consider to be one of my finest moments of creativity.

THE PLAYERS

1. A wallet
2. A regular deck of cards
3. A double-faced card
4. A willing spectator
 SHOWTIME

You need a double-faced card. Pick one of the two cards on it as a

force card, and remove its actual duplicate from the deck. Place the
actual mate of this card in your wallet, in the pocket you would
normally place your bills. Place the duplicate of the card on the other
side of the double facer away, or in a different compartment of your
wallet. I will tell you how to use it to perform this routine again
immediately for someone else. Place the double-faced card on the
bottom of the deck so that when the deck is face-up, the force card is
visible. The back of it will not be seen yet.

When you are ready to perform, bring out your wallet and give it to
your spectator.

"This is to ensure you will be amazed. If you're not, you can have
whatever is in there."

Now you've got their attention. Give the deck a shuffle and a false
cut, retaining the double-faced card on the bottom, careful not to
expose its true identity. You will now dribble force the bottom card as
follows: with the deck in right hand biddle grip, with the index finger,
swivel cut half the deck into the left hand and place the right hand’s
cards on top, holding a left pinky finger break between the halves.
Pick the deck up in the right hand biddle grip, letting the right thumb
take over the pinky break.

"As you see the cards fall, I want you to call out stop. I want you to
pick a card that I can't see the front or the back of it."

Dribble the cards fairly slowly to ensure they call stop before you get
to the break. When they call stop, drop all the cards below the break
and immediately rotate the right hand so they can see the face of the
card (the face of the double-faced card). Lower the hand and dribble
the rest of the cards in the right hand on the left hand’s portion,
making sure the first few fall slightly in-jogged. If you let only the
force card fall in-jogged, there is the possibility they will see the back
of it, as was made painfully obvious to me during my first
performance.

"Because the card is in your mind, it is now nothing more than a

memory."
As you say this, with the left hand, raise the right side of the deck as
the right hand approaches in preparation to pick it up for an overhand
shuffle. The right thumb pushes the in-jogged double-faced card flush
with the deck, getting a break below it. The right hand then takes all
the cards below the break, and overhand shuffles them onto the top of
the deck. This essentially controls the force to the bottom of the deck.

Now, you will need to reverse the bottom card, so that the indifferent
card on the other side of the double facer will show, thus hiding their
"selection". With the deck in left hand dealing position, buckle the
bottom card with the left pinky finger. The right hand comes over the
deck and biddle grips it. You now move the deck (minus the double-
faced card) to the left, then raise it and flip it face up. The back of the
right hand hides any brief exposure of the double-faced card.

Everything is set so you can concentrate on building up the suspense

to the amazing climax. Ask your spectator to concentrate on their
card and begin dealing cards singly onto the table one at a time,
occasionally looking the spectator in the eye. It is important that you
handle the cards singly. If you happen to glimpse one of the mates to
the force card, pause for a split second only, then deal a few cards
slowly, the continue spreading at regular rhythm. Keep going until
you get to the last card, the double-faced card. Hold it briefly and
flick it as you say, “Huh. I got nothing.”

Spread the entire deck face-up on the table. Run your fingers over
the cards, spreading them slightly, and ask for the name of their card.
If they haven't mentioned it already, say "It's not even there, is it?"
When they say no, reply "Well, I'm sorry that wasn't as amazing as I
said it would be. Open my wallet and claim your reward."

I don’t need to tell you what comes next.

 POST-PRODUCTION

Although it is not absolutely crucial, you could remove the card

corresponding to the other side of the double faced force card to
eliminate the discrepancy later on when showing the cards. This can
be embarrassing if the double and the actual card are next to each
other. If you choose not to remove the card from the deck, don't
worry about anyone detecting a duplicate, because the only card they
will be paying attention to is theirs.

This effect is perfect for table-hopping. It resets itself if you hold the
deck face-up in the left hand with a pinky finger break above the
bottom card (double face) and double cut it to the face. Now, when
you turn the deck face down, you can repeat the effect described
above, but with the other side of the double as the force. You could
simply have it in another compartment in your wallet.

If you don't want to use the dribble force, a regular riffle force would
work very nicely as well.

If you want to trip up your magician friends, instead of spreading the

deck on the table at the end, do it in your hands. Do so with the cards
close to your wallet, but not close enough that you cover up anything;
just close enough that they suspect you could have done something.
Even if they think that, they will think you stopped time in order to
load the card, because you didn't actually do anything.

When dealing cards for the selection, acting is everything. Before you
get to the last card, you could feign confusion, like you seem to notice
the deck is not quite complete; there must be a card missing. Just
don’t mention it. This is another very subtle clue and anticipation for
what is to come.

In the time I have been performing this effect, not once have I heard
anyone say, “I wonder if you could do that if I had signed the card.”

First of all, I have eliminated the use of a signed card by

subconsciously leading them to believe that if their card was signed,
my location of it would not be very impressive.

The omission of a signed card further strengthens the purity of the

effect. They wait patiently to see if you will be successful in finding
their card. Then, the silent moment they realize their card is
“legitimately” not there, is where the real magic starts. Don’t
underestimate the power this will have on people. It’s a real nail
biter.

DELETED SCENES

I recently devised the following presentation for this effect:

Instead of having the force card in the wallet, leave it in the deck.
During performance, remove it and place it face down on the table,
introducing it as your mystery card.

Say, "Would you like the card to go in my pocket or under your hand?"

99% of the time, they will say under their hand; all the better. Just
proceed through the routine as described, and after they see their
card missing, tell them to look under their hand. If they pick your
pocket, then have them reach in there themselves to get their card.

If they hold on to the card, do the procurement of the card close to

their hands. They won't feel a thing, but they will think you must have
reached in there invisibly to put their card. It's frightening. If the
card goes in your pocket, make sure you perform with the cards as far
away from the pocket as possible, so as to eliminate the possibility of
palming and loading. Let them reach in the pocket themselves to take
it out. This always kills them.

In addition, you could also load your force card into a spectator’s
pocket without them knowing, before the performance. When the
card goes missing, tell them to look in their pocket. I don’t need to
tell you the effect this has on people.