Paper Work

Asi Wind
 PaperWork
Written and Illustrated by Asi Wind
Edited by John Lovick
 Contents

1. 3-D Telepathy
7. Double Digits Force
11. Noah
27. Gang of Four
 3-D Telepathy

One of the reasons I don't use the center tear often is

because it's not always possible to justify tearing the
billet right after you have instructed someone to write
on it. In this routine, the use of the center tear is
logically motivated.

EFFECT: Three spectators each write down

information on a billet. The billets are folded and
mixed. A spectator randomly choose one of them, and
the other two are torn into small pieces (one is torn by
the performer, the other by a spectator). The
performer correctly reveals the information on the
chosen billet. When the other spectators ask, What
about what we wrote?, he then divines the information
on the other two billets, as well.

I
NEEDED: You will need three pieces of paper and
three pens. Blank index cards are the perfect thickness
and 21;2" square is a good size, although other sizes can
work as well. Test the pens to make sure they are not
the kind where the ink bleeds through to the other side
of the index cards.

PERFORMANCE: Hand a piece of paper and a pen

to each of three people. Ask the first spectator to write
down a two-digit number, such as a portion of an
address, pin code, birthdate, etc. -----any number that's
meaningful to him. Take a pen and draw a line across
the center of the billet with a little X to the left of the
line to indicate where the number should be written.
Instruct the second person to write down the first
name of a person with whom he has an emotional
connection with. Again, draw a line with an X
indicating where he should write.
Finally, ask the last person to draw a simple drawing
of something that he can relate to on a personal level.
On this billet, draw a square in the middle to restrict
him from drawing outside the center of the billet.
Once they are finished, ask all of them to fold their
pieces of paper in half twice, once in each direction.
Have one of the spectators collect all three billets and
mix them up behind his back (or under the table).
Once finished, ask him to place them onto the table.
((Since thu u quite difficuLt7 I am onLy .tJoin.CJ to try to guedd
whatd written on one of thede paperd7 but you wiLL decide which
one itd .CJoin.CJ to be." Ask a spectator to slide forward the

2
one billet he wants you to concentrate on. Pick up one
of the other two (unchosen) billets and ask him to pick
up the other unchosen one. ((Tear it up into JnuzLL pieced
ttut Like I'm doing" You demonstrate by tearing your
billet, but in reality, you are performing a center tear,_..,
the type wherein you glimpse the information as you
tear, rather than the type where you steal the center
piece. (Many good versions have been published by Al
Baker, Richard Osterlind, Bruce Bernstein, and Ran
Pink, to name a few).
Let's assume that you peeked the secret number;
commit the number to memory and continue shredding
the billet while asking the spectator to drop his torn
pieces onto the table.
I have discovered that if you ask someone to tear a
folded billet into small pieces, the information written
in the center of the billet will remain intact. In other
words, the spectator performs the center tear for you.
If you look closely at the torn pieces on the table, it's
quite easy to tell which piece contains the written
information; look for the only piece that has folded
edges on two sides (forming an L shape). Once you
identify that piece, drop your pieces on top of his, and
secretly grab that piece. Since it's quite small, stealing
that piece goes unnoticed. Let the stolen piece rest on
your right fingers, so that your hand appears relaxed.
A short recap: you have committed to memory the
information (a number) from the billet you tore, and
you have the center of the other billet resting on your
fingers.

J
Point at the folded (chosen) billet on the table and say,
7
1 think thu helong.1 to the per.1on who u thinkin/J of a
numher. 77
Of course, this statement will change
depending on whatever category of information you
peeked during the center tear. For example, if you
peeked the drawing, you would say, 7 think thu helong.1
7

to the per.1on who drew a picture. 77

With your right hand, reach into your trouser pocket,

deposit the stolen piece, and remove another billet
from your pocket. Pick up a pen and write down the
number that you committed to memory. Place the
paper face down onto the table. Pick up the folded
billet from the table and unfold it. Be casual about it
but make sure no one else can see what's written on it.
This is how you discover the second unknown piece of
information. Let's assume you see a drawing of a
flower. Pretend you are reading the billet with the
number and say something like, ((So why u [45]
d~qnificant to you? 77

You need to destroy this billet, otherwise your

audience could discover the fact that the information
on it doesn't match your divination. So tear it into small
pieces and drop them onto the rest of the torn billets as
you say, ((Of courr1e7 you could hare cho.1en to de.1troy thu one7
and keep another. Turn over your written divination; in
77

our example, it would read ((45". Your initial claim was

that you are only going to try to reveal one of these
billets, so you should act as if the demonstration is
over.
The strongest magic you can perform is the kind of
magic that people challenge you to do, like: make my
wife disappear, or tell me the lottery numbers.
Although I don't yet have impromptu solutions to
4
those requests, with this routine you are setting up
your audience to challenge you to reveal the other two
thoughts that were committed to paper. So wait until
someone challenges you, and while you wait, it's very
easy to unfold the torn piece of paper you deposited in
your pocket and position it in finger palm; then find a
moment to secretly glimpse it. As far as the audience is
concerned, the trick is over, and so finding this
moment should not be difficult.
You now have the other two pieces of information and
it's up to you to determine how to reveal them.

5
6
 Double Digits Force

This was inspired by Chan Canasta's psychological

riffle force 1 This is not a card force, but a method that
will enable you to force two one-digit numbers. It is a
very useful tool that can be used in various ways. You
can use it for tricks like ACAAN, Book Tests, a Magic
Square, or any routine that requires a force of a two-
digit number. I am not offering a full routine here, just
a description of the force itself.

EFFECT: You riffle the deck of cards with the faces

toward a spectator, and ask him to choose two random
numbers (card values) that he sees. The two numbers
he chooses are your force numbers. What's interesting
is that the participant genuinely sees many different

1 Chan Cana~lta: A RemarkahLe Man (2000) by David

Britland, page 75.

7
cards riffle past, and therefore the procedure looks as
fair to him as it does to the audience.

SETUP: Let's assume you want to force the numbers

two and five. Remove the four Twos and the four
Fives, along with all twelve court cards. Shuffle the
court cards and arrange these twenty cards as follows
from the top down: Three court cards, a Two, a court
card, a Five, a court card, a Two, and so forth, until
you run out of cards. (There will be two court cards
together at the end.) Place this stack on top of the
remainder of the (shuffled) deck and put them inside
the box. You are now ready for the force.

PERFORMANCE: Remove the cards from the case

and casually false shuffle the deck; it's important the
audience thinks the cards are shuffled to eliminate the
thought that the cards are stacked. Hand the deck to a
spectator and ask him to go through them as you say,
aYou can dee the cardd are thorou._qhLy dhuffLed and are aLL
different, correct?'' Even though the top portion of the
deck is stacked, it's very hard to spot a suspicious
pattern when examined casually. Take back the deck,
and hold it in your left hand with the face toward the
spectator. Say, (1'nt going to riffLe through the cardd, and ad
they .fJO by, I want you to ren1e1nber any two d?fferent nu1nberd
that you deej I'LL go throu._qh them dLowLy, do you have enou._qh
tinte to dee two different numberd." The stack consists of
twenty cards, so with your right fingers at the upper
ends of the cards, start riffling about twenty cards from
the top of the deck.

8
I recommend looking away during this procedure to
make it seem even fairer than it already is. When you
have finished riffling the cards, say, ((Do you haCJe two
numberr1 in mind?"
Because you riffled through almost half the deck, the
illusion is that he had many options to choose from, but
in reality, because the Twos and Fives alternate with
random court cards, the only two numbers he could
possibly have seen are two and five, and therefore he
ends up with those in mind.
•'PLear1e arrange the two numberr1 you haCJe in mind to fornz a
two-digit number7 for exanzpLe7 ~~the nunzberr1 you haCJe in
mind are eight and r1Lx7 you can make it e~qhty-Jix or r1ixty-
eight." Since you don't know which combination he
made, for some tricks, you would need to do a bit of
fishing to know which number he created. For
example, you can ask, ..Did you end up with an eCJen nunzber
or an odd number?'' or ..You can arran.qe the nuntberr1 where
one u Lower than the other7 which do you prefer7 the higher
number or the Lower number?"
For some tricks, you don't need to know which of the
two-digit numbers he chose because you have outs for
both outcomes. For example, for a Book Test, you can
hand him the book and say, ..Open the book to the pa._qe
number you haCJe in ntind." It's very easy to figure out if
he chose twenty-five or fifty-two just from glancing
where he opens the book, or if he is looking at an even-
numbered page or an odd-numbered page.

9
 Noah

Over the years, many magicians have tinkered with

Marlo's famous uA Matching Routine" 2 ,.........Martin
Nash, Denis Behr, Justin Higham, and Allan
Ackerman, to name a few. I have also dedicated many
years to exploring this plot. I would like to share with
you where it stands today, as I am sure I will make
more changes and tweaks to it in the future.

EFFECT: In the first phase of this routine, a spectator

cuts to a random card in the deck, and another
spectator, coincidently, selects the mate of that card
(the same value and color). The effect is repeated.
Then, three randomly chosen cards are turned face up
in the face-down deck, and the deck is shuffled;
amazingly, each of the three selections lands right next

2This was published in Ed Marlo's Faro ControL!e() Mirac!er1 (1964),

page 31.

II
to its respective mate. In the last phase,_...., after the card
have been shuffled many times during the previous
phases,_...., every card in the deck ends up paired next to
its mate.
This trick is suitable for a formal close-up show and
requires a full-deck setup. However, I will also share
with you a trick that you can perform immediately
prior to this routine, during which you can secretly set
up the entire deck for this routine. This, of course, is
optional and you can simply set up the deck in
advance.

SETUP: Set up the deck in stay-stack order (this is

also known as a mirror stack); that is, the top card of
the deck is the mate of the bottom card, the second
card is the mate of the second card from the bottom,
the third card is the mate of the third from the bottom,
and so on throughout the entire deck; there will be a
pair of mates together at the center of the deck. Note,
however that for this trick, the stack must look
random; new deck order is technically a stay stack, but
it does not look random. The cover illustration shows
an example of a stay stack.

PERFORMANCE: If you do not have the

opportunity or desire to preset your deck, here is the
preliminary trick you can perform that will enable you
to set up the deck in front of your audience. Obviously,
if your deck is already stacked, you will skip this
preliminary trick.
Let's assume y ou have just finished a card trick and
your deck is shuffled. As you thumb through the face-
12
up deck, cull all of the Diamonds and Spades,.........that's
right, you'll be doing the Hofzinser cull twenty-six
tirnes. 3 You can justify this procedure by commenting
about how well-shuffled the cards are and removing
the J akers in the process. At the end of the culling
procedure, turn the deck face down; the Diamonds and
Spades will occupy the top half of the deck and the
Clubs and Hearts will be in the bottom half.
•7 wouLd now Like to pre.1ent the fairetft trick in the worLd. n
Ironically, this trick is far from fair, because during the
course of it, you will be stacking the entire deck for the
trick that follows. Execute a Jordan red-black
overhand shuffle, as follows: shuffle off batches of
cards until you are near the middle, then start to run
off cards singly; once you have passed the center, go
back to shuffling groups of cards until you have gone
through the whole deck. 4 This shuffle will maintain the
separation of the suits,......... Diamonds and Spades will
now be the bottom half and Clubs and Hearts will be
the upper half.
Turn your head away and ask a spectator to remove a
card as you run the cards from your left hand to your
right; only allow him to take a card from the upper half
of the deck, as the chosen card must be a Club or a
Heart (even with your head turned away it's easy to
restrict his choice). With your head still turned away,
continue running cards from your left hand to your

3A good resource for learning the cull is Kostya Kimlat's DVD,

The Roadrunner CuLL.
4This is Charles T. Jordan's red-black overhand shuffle from his
book Thirty Card Mydteried (1919), page 13. Alternatively, you can
do any false shuffle that doesn't intermix the halves.

13
right and say, ({Look at the card, dhow it around .and return
it to the deck. By the time he is ready to put his card
77

back in the deck you will have gone past the center of
the deck, and he will only have access to the lower half
of the deck; therefore his card will be the only Club or
Heart amongst the Spades and Diamonds. With your
head still turned away, execute another Jordan red-
black overhand shuffle, as described above, which
makes this demonstration truly diabolical.
Turn the deck face up and say, "I'LL remore aLL the cardd I
think you didn't choode. As you thumb through the deck,
77

remove bunches of cards from the Clubs/Hearts

portion and place them scattered face up onto the table.
Continue pulling cards out of the deck until you have
removed the entire bottom half. Square up the cards
on the table and ribbon spread them from left to right
so that all the indices are visible and ask, "So, none of
u
thede cardd yourd, rightl 77

Under the guise of continuing to eliminate cards that

you think are not the chosen card, you are now going
to put the deck into stay-stack order. Let's assume that
the card at the face of the tabled spread is the Nine of
Hearts. Go through the cards, remove the Nine of
Diamonds, and place it on the right end of the spread
(on top of its mate) as you say, ul don't think that'd your
card, either. Note the card in the spread to the left of
77

the Nine of Hearts and pull out its mate from the cards
in your hands and place it on the right end of the
spread. (To make this process a bit faster, pull out a
few cards at a time and lay them down, rather than
handling each card individually.) Once you are left
with only a few cards in your hand you'll notice that
there's only one card that belongs to the Clubs/Hearts

14
portion; that card is the chosen one. Remove that card
and place it face down onto the table and ask, "What
wad the card you chor1e?n The card he names will be the
card you just placed face down; turn it over and
conclude the trick.
Place the final few cards onto the face of the spread in
the order that mirrors the last few cards on the other
end of the spread, placing the mate of the chosen card
last (so it is on top). Place the chosen card under the
last card of the spread on the left (and use it to scoop
up the deck if you'd like), and you will have arranged
the deck into stay-stack order. 5 Although it's unlikely
that anyone would ever notice that the cards are
separated by suit, Clubs and Hearts on the left and
Diamonds and Spades on the right, pick up the cards,
cut exactly between the pair at the center (the red
Nines, in our example) and perform a faro shuffle (out
or in) and the deck will still be in stay-stack order, but
with all four suits alternating.
This trick is a very powerful demonstration on its own,
but it's also a great way to set up for the next routine.
However, you can omit this trick, and just perform the
following effect, if you have the opportunity (and
desire) to preset your deck in stay-stack order.
Now that the cards are stacked, you can execute a few
full-deck false shuffles as you ask a spectator to your
right to help you, uPLeMe, place the deck under the tahle and
cut off a .1nuzLL packet of carddfronz the top of the deck. nIt's a

5The idea of surreptitiously stacking cards in this manner was

inspired by the maestro, Juan Tamariz

15
good idea to demonstrate cutting a small packet of
cards as you give these instructions to prevent
confusion. After he takes the cards under the table and
cuts off a small portion of cards from the top, say,
(Leave the dlnaLL packet under the tabLe and brin.q up the redt.
77

Retrieve the rest of the cards from him, spread them

face up, and address someone who is sitting across
from the first spectator. Say, (7 want you to defect a card
at randonz, as you note the lowermost card in the pack;
77

let's say it's the Five of Hearts. Go through the cards

and look for its mate, the Five of Diamonds.
Injog the second card above the Five of Diamonds, and
as you square the deck, angle the injogged card by
sliding the inner left corner half an inch to the right
with your right thumb; all corners of the card should
protrude with the exception of the outer left corner
(figure 1).

i.

16
With the cards in right-hand end grip, keep your right
thumb on the inner left corner of the angle-jogged card
and the right ring finger on the outer right corner of
the jogged card (your right hand prevents the angled
card from showing). The angled card will act as a long
card and will allow you to do the dribble force without
having any visible break in the deck. 6 Start dribbling
cards onto the table as you say, c'PLea1e caLL out, eStop'
anytinze." Time it so that as soon the spectator starts
moving his lips you are ready to stop exactly between
the angled card and the card below it.
If the card at the face of the dribbled cards is the
Queen of Clubs, ask, aWhat d the cLodedt card to the Queen
of CLuiM, i1 it the Kin/J of CLuiM, the Jack of CLuiM, or the other
hLack Queen?" Most likely they will reply, ((The other
black Queen". This is a great opportunity to say,
ccGreat, dO you prefer the Queen of Spaded and not the Jack or
King of CLuhd. " If they answered the question any other
way, I would respond with, ((WeLL the cLodedt card to the
Queen of CLuhd i1 her twin card, the Queen of Spaded."
Depending on their reply, you decide how to respond;
in one case you treat it as if you were giving them a
choice and in the other case you inform them about
mates.
A quick recap: one spectator is holding a packet of
cards under the table; another packet is face up on the
table with the stopped-at card on top; the rest of the
cards are in your right hand. Ask the first spectator,
aCan you r1how Ud where you cut the deck?" Once he brings

6This handling of the dribble force can be found in The Vernon

ChronicLed} VoLwne One: The Lor1t Inner Secretr1 (1987) by Stephen
Minch, page 94.
17
the cards up from under the table, ask him to turn them
face up, and the card at the face will be the mate of the
stopped-at card. Place the cut-off packet to the right of
the tabled portion, and allow the audience enough time
to digest the first climax. Then spread both packets to
display that none of the other cards match. alf you had
cut the packet anywhere eue, it wouLdn't he a match. "
After the first climax, you will need to reassemble the
deck back into stay-stack order. Place the cards in your
hand face up on top of the left pile, then pick up the
combined pile and place them on the pile on the right.
You are now back in stay-stack order.
Spread through the face-up deck as you say, ..You couLd
hare chor1en any one of ther1e cardr1." Look for the only two
cards in the middle that are mates (the red Nines, in
our example). Injog the upper card of the pair and
square the deck while angling the injogged card,
preparing for another dribble force. Start dribbling
cards into a pile on the table and ask a spectator to stop
you anywhere. Of course, you will time it so he stops
you at the midpoint (right at the angled card). Ask him
if he is happy with where he stopped you. Most likely
he'll be satisfied and if not, you will pick up the cards
on the table and place them face up on top of the cards
in your hand, and you will repeat this sequence. (Since
you gave the deck a complete cut, the middle pair will
be different than before.)
Take one half in each hand and hold them vertically
(why this is important will make sense in a second).
Take both under the table and hand the right-hand
packet face up to a spectator to your right. Hand the
other packet face down to a spectator on your left. The
reason you held the piles above the table vertically is
18
because you want the spectators holding the cards
under the table to assume that they both received the
packets in the same orientation, and if you held both
piles above the table face down, they would both
assume them to be face down. (7 want hoth ofyou to choor1e
a nunzher between one and ten, hut you mUJt a/Jree on the
nunzher, JofeeLfree to ne._qotiate untiL you a.qree on a nun~her."
Once they have agreed on a number (let's say it's four),
ask them both to take the top card of their packet and
move it to the bottom and continue one card at a time,
until they get to the fourth card (the number they
chose).
With both hands, reach under the table to retrieve the
two packets from them. aPLeaJe hand me the packetr1, hut
keep the fourth card under the tahLe." As you bring the
packets up, turn the left pile face up.
Execute ribbon spreads of the packets in two parallel
columns, spreading them from near the spectators
toward you, and say, aOf cout~e, you couLd have puLLed any
two cardr1 you wanted." The order of the cards in each
spread will look completely random to anyone who
compares the two spreads.
((PLear1e take a Look at the cardr1 you have under the tahLe and
pLace them face down onto the tahLe. "This specific wording
will help reinforce their belief that they are both
holding the cards in the same orientation. (One of them
will see the card face up, and the other will have to turn
it over, which will make sense to them.)
Once they each have placed their card face down onto
the table, ask the spectator on your right to flip his card
over; let's say it's the Three of Clubs. Turn to the other
spectator and say, ((So the n~ate of the Three of CLuhr1 theu
Three of Spaded," and have him turn his card over. You
19
don't want them to flip their cards simultaneously,
because that leaves no room for build up and kills the
suspense.
Square up both spreads and combine the two (it
doesn't matter which one goes on top), obtaining a
little-finger break between the packets. Pick up the
two selections and push both into the break between
the two halves.
Flip the deck face down and start dealing cards from
the top of the deck face down onto the table, each card
slightly to the right of the other, creating a spread of
cards. Ask a spectator to call out, 'Stop.' Once he does,
turn face up the last card you dealt, and continue
dealing cards on top of the face-up card, while you ask
another person to call out, 1Stop. 1 Once he does, again
turn face up the last card you dealt. Repeat this
procedure once more, so that three cards are face up
within the spread. The only restriction is that you can't
deal past twenty-six cards, but that's quite a big bank
of cards. Of course, on the very rare occasions where
you see that after the second selection you might run
the risk of passing the midpoint of the deck, you can
stop after having only two cards selected, instead of
proceeding onto a third.
During this process you have had three volunteers
select cards, but you have also managed to reverse the
order of the cards. However, you need to keep
reversing cards until you have reversed the top twenty-
six cards. So after the third selection, keep dealing
cards but this time display each of them before placing
them face down, as you comment, "ff you r1topped me
anywhere eue you wouLd haCJe chor1en different cardr1." Keep
doing that until you see the first of the two mates from
20
the previous climax (the black Threes in our example;
once you see the first one, you have dealt exactly
twenty-six cards.)
Place the undealt cards face down onto the table
momentarily, square up the spread of cards (with the
three selections reversed in the middle), and flip the
pile over. Note the bottom card in that pile (let's
assume it is the Six of Hearts). Remember that card
and perform a few false overhand shuffles (or any
other false shuffle), and comment, "Every time I dhuff!e
the cardd, the poditiond of the three de!ectiond chan.qe Locationd. ''
After a few shuffles, turn the cards face down and
spread them onto the table. ((Ad you can dee, the three/ace-
up cardd are now in different Locationd. "Actually, this is not
true, but it will be perceived as true.
Ask someone to cut the cards a few times, then do
another false shuffle and turn the cards face up and
say, ((So thede cardd have been thorou,qh!y dhu/(!ed and cut by
me and by you." Spot the Six of Hearts and cut it to the
face. Hold these face-up cards in the right hand from
above. Pick up the other pile with your left hand, turn
it face up, in dealing grip, and execute a weave shuffle
of this half into the right-hand half (the Six of Hearts
should remain on top), but do not square the packets
into each other yet.
Push the interlaced outer half of the deck halfway into
the inner half. Push the outer portion farther into the
inner portion, pushing predominantly with your right
forefinger so that the outer portion shifts and is angled
to the left (figure 2).

21
 '

With your left thumb, square the protruding corners

of the upper half (figure 3) so that they emerge at the
inner right corner.

22
Keeping your left little finger in the vertex where the
two halves meet will help keep the two packets
separated (figure 4, right hand omitted for clarity).

t,t.

The goal is to get the angled portion sidejogged, and

currently only the inner end is sticking out. The
following action will be easier if you do not apply too
much pressure on the deck so that there is less friction.
With your right little finger (figure 5, from below, left
hand omitted for clarity), pivot the outer right corner
of the angled portion to the right until it is sidejogged
(figure 6, right hand omitted for clarity).
Spread the cards face up onto the table; three cards
will be seen reversed. Say, "Three cardd ended up randon1iy
in different Locatwnd. Very carefully, slide each reversed
77

card to the right to reveal the card under it. Then slide
both the reversed card and the card underneath it out
23
 6.

of the spread. Once all three pairs are out the spread,
turn up each of the face down cards to show that all
three cards have landed right next to their mates.
Although all the cards in the deck are now arranged in
pairs, the face-up spread of cards should look like it's

24
completely shuffled, because half the cards are
sidej ogged and therefore hidden from view. 7 Remark,
((Thede cardd are thoroughLy r:Jhuffle()J hut ntayhe we can do
r1omething about that. Square the deck. A few false
N

shuffles and cuts will convey the premise of the grand

finale, that you are controlling every card into position,
next to its mate. You will now handle the climax as
Marlo did. Dramatically deal pairs of cards from the
face of the deck onto the table, gradually building
speed, until the entire table is covered with matching
.
pa1rs.

7 This is the ribbon spread hideout, w hich Dr. Jacob Daley

attributed to Dai Vern on.

25
26
 Gang of Four

With the kind permission of Dani DaOrtiz, I share

with you my take on one of his mighty tricks, ((Twin
Souls" from the DVD Que Raro, which Dani made with
Christian Engblom.

EFFECT: The performer ribbon spreads a deck of

cards face down on the table and then, from one end of
the spread, he turns one card at a time face up, one on
top of the other. He asks a spectator to call out, 'Stop'
at any point. Let's assume the stopped-at card is the
Ten of Spades. The performer places that card face up
onto the top card of the spread, and the rest of the dealt
cards face down on top of the Ten of Spades. Right
now the only card facing up in the spread is the Ten of
Spades. After squaring and respreading the cards,
mystically, all four Tens are all face up.

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On the DVD, Dani includes two methods for the get-
ready to this miracle (one of them by Engblom). I
performed the trick quite often but wanted to find a
way to do the get-ready in the course of a previous
trick. My get-ready happens during a slop-shuffle
sequence, which acts as a prelude to this trick. I find
these two tricks complement each other nicely when
performed back to back.

PERFORMANCE: Have a spectator shuffle the

cards. Take them back, and execute a ribbon spread of
the cards face up, to display their mixed condition. As
you say, '/1.:~ you can dee, you .:~hu//Led the card.:! very wei~
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scan the deck and note the positions of the four Tens
(or any four-of-a-kind you wish to perform this trick
with). The four Tens need to be distributed throughout
the deck, and none can be next to each other. More
often than not, your four-of-a-kind will be scattered
throughout the spread. If you see that two or more of
the Tens are right next to each other, remove one of
the Tens, along with a few random cards next to it, and
replace them somewhere else in the spread as you say ,
"We can .:~huffle the card.:~ ad much ad we want.77

Square the deck and hold it face up in left-hand dealing

position. Thumb off cards from the top of the deck into
your right hand until you come to the first Ten. Once
you have thumbed off all the cards above the first Ten
into the right hand, turn the right hand palm down and
insert the first Ten face up into the face-down, right-
hand packet (figure 1).

28
With your left thumb, push a few more face-up cards
underneath the right-hand packet. Turn your right
hand palm up and in standard slop shuffle fashion, you
will continue to turn the right hand up and then down,
thumbing cards underneath the right-hand packet
until you come to the second Ten. (How many groups
of cards you thumb over and how many times you
invert your right hand will vary, depending on how far
apart the first two Tens are.) Once you see the second
Ten, rotate the right hand palm down, and insert the
second Ten face up within the bottom half of the upper,
face·-down cards (figure 2). Continue by thumbing off
more cards underneath the right-hand packet.

29
Keep repeating the slop shuffle actions until three Tens
are face up within the face-down cards in your right
hand-again, you ideally want the three Tens to be in
the lower portion of the face-down packet closer to
where the two halves are face-to-face. Continue with
the slop shuffle sequence; that is, rotating the right
hand palm up and palm down, and thumbing off cards
with your left thumb, underneath the right-hand
packet.
Once you get to the last Ten, turn your right-hand
palm down and then thumb off the last Ten onto the
bottom of the cards in the right hand. Turn your hand
palm up again and place the rest of the cards on the
underside of the right-hand packet.
Turn over the entire deck. As a position check, the
order of the cards now should be: the top half is face
down, except for three face-up Tens distributed in the
lower portion of this half; the bottom half is face up,
and the fourth Ten is face-up on the bottom.
Hold the cards in dealing position with your left hand.
With your right hand, cut off about a quarter of the
deck and turn this packet over as you comment, ..Sonze
cardd are face down." Place these cards back on top. Cut
somewhere in the bottom half of the deck, turn the
packet over and say, ''flnd r1on~e are face up. '' Continue
displaying the the deck in this fashion a few times to
demonstrate that the cards are mixed in a face-up/face-
down condition.
Finally, cut the deck in the middle, at the juncture
between the face-up and face-down portions. The
natural bend in the deck should help here. Double
check that you've cut at the right spot by turning the

JO
right-hand portion face up; if there's a card face up on
each packet (and neither are Tens) then you have
successfully cut the deck at the right place.
Place the right-hand cards face down onto the table
and immediately place the left-hand cards face down
on top of the tabled packet. Right now one Ten is face
down on top of the deck, the rest of the cards are face
down, except for the three face-up Tens somewhere in
the bottom quarter of the deck.
By now, the audience is convinced that the cards are
shuffled in different orientations. Spread the cards face
down between your hands without spreading the
bottom portion of the deck; it will look as if all the cards
are now facing down. This first effect could be
presented as a stand-alone piece or routined with the
next effect. After all, both effects are about controlling
the orientations of the cards.
Square the deck and thumb off two groups of three
cards with your left thumb into the right hand and one
more card, for a total of seven cards, as you remind
your audience, ((Remen~betj we 6oth thorou.qhLy r:JhuffLe()
ther:Je cardr:J. n Square the deck while obtaining a little-
finger break beneath those seven cards.
With your right hand in end grip, lift the cards above
the break as your left thumb, placed on top of the deck,
slides off the top card (a Ten) onto the rest of the deck,
in slip-cut fashion. Rotate the cards in your right-hand
face-up and say something along the lines of, ((And erery
u
one of ther:Je cardr:J /acinLq the dame way. n Replace this
packet face down on top of the deck, and the Ten is
now positioned seventh from the top.

JJ
Hold the cards with you right hand in end grip, and
swing cut three-quarters of the deck into your left
hand. (The cards left in your right hand should contain
the three reversed Tens.)
With the smaller packet in the right hand, place the
inner end of this packet against the outer end of the
larger packet in your left hand, and execute a weave
shuffle (it doesn't have to be a perfect weave) of the
smaller packet into the lower part of the larger packet.
The following actions are described in HNoah" and
consulting the illustrations there will give you an
understanding of the following. Push the interlaced
smaller packet halfway into the larger packet, pushing
predominantly with your right forefinger so that the
smaller packet shifts and is angled to the left.
With your left thumb, square the protruding corners
of the smaller packet, so that it emerges at the inner
right corner. Keeping your left little finger in the vertex
where the two packets meet will help keep the packets
separated.
The goal is to get the smaller packet sidejogged, and
currently only the inner end of the packet is sticking
out. The following action will be easier if you do not
apply too much pressure on the deck so that there is
less friction.
With your right little finger, pivot the outer right
corner of the smaller packet to the right until the
packet is sidej ogged.
By holding the cards with your right hand in end grip,
the back of your hand will cover the sidejogged cards.

J2
Execute a ribbon spread of the deck on the table from
left to right. Since the side-jogged cards contain the
three Tens, and even and consistent spread should
prevent any of them from showing. This is the ribbon
spread hideout.
At this point you need to force the seventh card. I will
explain two methods with which you can achieve that.

Method one. Ask a person to name a number up to

ten. If the chosen number is low (like three or four) ask
another person, ((Can you giJJe me another cJmaLL number."
Add them together, and you are going to be in one of
the scenarios below.
If they choose five, remove five cards from the spread
and ask another person, {1Jo you prefer one or two 1nore?"
If they say u one more", slide one card to the side and
the next card is the force card, and if they choose utwo
more," slide one card over (on the count of one) and
on the count of two, flip the second one over (the force
card).
If the number chosen is six, slide six cards off to the
side and then flip over the next card (the force card).
If they say seven (as you know, seven is a common
choice), count to the seventh card from the right end
of the spread and flip it over.
If they choose eight, pick up two cards at a time and
place each pair, one on top of the other, as you count,

J3
((Two, four, dLx, e~qht. This way of counting will bring
77

the seventh card (the force card) to the top of that pile. 8
If they say nine, you do another version of the curious
count. Pick up three cards at a time, dropping each
group to the table as you count, ((Three, dLx, ninej that d
exactLy nine cardd. This brings the force card to the top
J7

of the pile.
If they say ten, say, (Li nunzher up to ten. 77

Method two. My preferred way is to rely on a timing

force, as follows: Turn one card at a time face up,
dealing one on top of the other as you say, ((Ad you can
Jee, thede are aLL different. By the end of this statement
77

you will have turned over four cards. Proceed by

saying, aWe don 1t need 1nany cardd, do dtop me whenef.Jer you
Like. n If you time your pacing right, you can anticipate
when your spectator is about to call out, 1Stop 1 and
time it so that he stops you after you have flipped the
sixth or the seventh card. Both scenarios are perfect
because if he stops you on the sixth card, you could
say, ((WouLd you Like one ntore?n If he says yes, flip over
the next card and the force card is the last card turned
over. If he says no, point toward the next card in the
spread and say, ((You dtopped me here. n Turn over the
force card. Of course with this kind of approach there 1s
more risk, but if you nail it, the payoff is much
stronger. If he stops you prematurely, or way after the

8This procedure was published under the name "a curious count"
in The Pa!Lbearerr:f Review (October 1968), page 210. While
contributed by Fred G. Taylor, he did not claim it and the
inventor is unknown. I learned it from Juan Tamariz
J4
force card, you need to resort to any equivoque
techniques you are comfortable with. (Details of such
techniques are beyond the scope of this description.)
Once you have managed to force the Ten, place it face
up onto the top card of the spread, and put the rest of
the cards that you removed face down onto the face-up
Ten, spread to the right, continuing the ribbon spread.
This is an excellent moment to recap the fairness of the
selection procedure. As you move your finger across
the spread, say, ..You could have .:flopped me on any of ther:Je
cardr:J. ''This statement also draws their attention to the
fact that right now, there's only one card facing up,
without your having to say it explicitly.
Square the deck carefully, without exposing any of the
hidden face-up cards prematurely. ..BecaUr:Je you chor1e the
Ten of [whichever r:Juit], I wiLL try to nzake aLL the other Tend
turn face up. Ar1 a n~atter of fact, I have already done that."
Spread the cards slowly to build up the suspense; all
four Tens are now face up.

J5