Magic Tricks

(see some tips below)

First, I'd like to say anyone who saw this trick and thought there would not be a stack involved that you must not be very bright. (Sorry...but come on....how else would this trick be possible?) Secondly, if stacking 20 cards is too hard and takes you longer than 3 mins then this is not for you.

Now that I got that out of the way...I love this trick! The only reason I gave it a 4 is because the real "smart guys" will figure it to be a stack. But if you watch how Joshua does it with his patter and alot of false shuffles you can see how this can be an amazing trick...especially to laymen. So a big part of the responsibility is yours to disguise the fact that it's a stack and present the odds in your patter.

That said, I do this all the time, usually when I first take out the deck. What is so great is that there is no gimmick and nothing to hide. If your patter is great, as Joshua's is, then you will get the reaction that we all love. You can have your deck already stacked and not do the trick. I always set my deck just so I have the option to do it. One of the best reactions I ever got was with family. We were going to play cards later in the night and the deck was out on the table, but laying amongst a bunch of stuff. I swiped it and went into the bathroom and stacked the deck. I then put it back on the table so nobody saw me touch it. When we sat down to play, I was asked for a card trick as I often am. So as the person was opening the deck, I said to give me the cards. Now if she would have dropped them or shuffled, I would have done something else, but she took them out and handed them to me. I said are these shuffled? and I spread them out so they could all see that they "looked" to be. I then said I'm not even going to shuffle these or handle them so you don't accuse me of anything fishy. I then went into the patter just like Joshua does. When this trick ended I got 3 "wows" and a big "wtf" at the end. The beauty was, someone accused me of bringing the deck or touching it and I said to the host...have I touched these cards...did we set this up??? And she vehemently said "NO....I JUST PUT THEM OUT" I swear it was worth the money for that one reaction...especially from the "smart guys" whose goal it is to figure out how I do any trick I perform!

Here are a couple tips. You can EASILY write the order on the flap of the card box. Seriously, it's only 2 letters per card ie: AH = Ace of Hearts and just write it in 2 rows of 10. Anyone claiming they can't do that just can't write small. BUT...and this is my first tip:

Tip #1 : You will always be setting the stack in private and you always will have your cell phone...well most everyone will. I just use a note pad app and put the stack in my cell...now you have no reason to cry that it's too much to write on the card box. (again, you could EASILY do it like he says) I also put the odds in my cell. But I use different odds. Here is my second and third tips:

Tip #2: In the stack he gives you, use the Ace of Clubs (AC) INSTEAD of the Ace of Diamonds (AD). This will give you a Suited Black Jack in Clubs rather than an AD and a JC. The odds of the black jack being suited from what I found online is 1 in 1326, I think that is a small thing but just adds to the whole "odds" patter. I also just round up on all of my odds. I say "finding just one card in the deck is 1 in 52. While a two card suited black jack is 1 in over1300 (now I remember it's 1326 so I end up saying it...but to start out, I would just round it to 1300). Having a Royal Flush dealt to you and the odds jump to 1 in over 649,000. (he says the exact number which is 649,580 I just haven't been able to let that 580 into my brain, but eventually it will seep in) And the odds of a perfect Bridge hand....1 in over 5 million." (all the odds I use are from him so if wrong, don't blame me! Except the suited black jack which I found online a while ago so if that's wrong, blame the Internet as a whole!)

Tip #3: It is very, very easy to reset the stack after you do it once, obviously. So when practicing you can literally restack the deck in under a minute. I know it's under a minute because my cell goes dim after 30 secs and I normally have to tap the screen once to brighten it when I restack when practicing.

Not ground breaking tips, but I think these will give you some comfort if you are thinking of buying this great trick. It's also very easy to remember how to do the deal...the hard part, if there is one, is syncing your patter with what you are doing. I hope you love this one like I do. I always have my deck set like this so I can do it first or not. And like Joshua says, you can use the deck as long as you don't disrupt the 20 card stack which is also an option. I haven't done that yet but you could easily do a trick before this which would make this one that much better, as they'd not expect a stack.