Generally speaking, there's only one trick that is very well known with two decks of cards among magicians; you know what I'm talking about: A spectator shuffles one deck and you shuffle the other (at the same time you glimpse the bottom card). You exchange the decks. Ask the spectator to remove one card from the middle, look at it, put it on top and cut the deck. You apparently do the same but really you look at any card and forget about it. You exchange the decks again and both you and the spectator find the card looked at in the previous deck. You really take the card to the right of your glimpsed card and place it face down on the table. The spectator takes the card he has seen in the other deck and places it on the table. When the two cards are turned over, they match! It is still a great trick, but there is so much more to do with two decks of cards.

In my quest I collected about a hundred tricks and routines using two decks of cards (or three, as we'll see). Most of them having the premise of the above described effect; This is what Karl Fulves has to say in regard to the basic effect, "The premise of the two-deck trick is that if each of two parties gets a deck of cards and each chooses a card (or cards) in the same way, then each person will choose the same card (or cards). This simple premise is responsible for the development of some of the most intriguing card routines."

In selecting routines for this book, I have chosen to pick effects of different nature and various handling, shifting away from the standard premise depicted in Karl's statement. If not otherwise indicated, most of the routines use a red-backed deck and a blue-backed one.

Study each effect and see for yourself how much interest and how much variety can be found in such a simple premise.

Pages: 24 - 8.5" x 11"