Card trick

“ Spread the cards a little, and fling them into the air, clutching at them with the right hand as they descend, and at the same moment bring the chosen card to the tips of the fingers. The effect to the spectators will be as if you actually caught it among the falling cards.
This feat also may be performed without the aid of a long card, and without the necessity of forcing a card. In this case, as in the pocket-picking trick, you make the pass as soon as the card is returned to the pack, in order to bring it to the top, and palm it; then offer the pack to be shuffled. ”

“ The card chosen having been next below the long card, is now at the top of the last heap. You ask the person who drew to name his card, and, touching the back of the top card with your wand, turn it over to show that it is the right one.
If you are tolerably expert in sleight-of-hand you may repeat the trick in a yet more striking manner. Proceed as before up to the moment when the word “stop” is pronounced. Having let fall as before all the cards below the long card, lay down the remainder of the pack, and take in the left hand the heap which you last dealt. ”

“ CARD TRICKS AND COMBINATIONS. For Parlour Magic a pack of cards will be found the source of endless amusement and variety. For the sleight-of-hand card tricks considerable practice is needed before they can be performed neatly and cleverly, so as to prevent the detection of the trick. To palm a card, to make the pass, to force a card, to make a false shuffle, to sight a card, are necessary accomplishments for the conjurer to learn and practise. ”

“ It will be seen that by their means any card chosen and returned to the pack may be at once secured and ascertained, which is the prime object of the card trickster, in whatsoever experiment he may be engaged. Simply a ‘slip,’ combined with any of the following ‘exposures,’ will constitute a trick in itself, far above the comprehension of any one not himself a master of the art. ”

“ The above delusive offer to show “how it’s done” can be equally well adapted to many other tricks, and never fails to create amusement.
A Card having been thought of, to make such Card Vanish from the Pack, and be Discovered wherever the Performer pleases.—This trick should be performed with twenty-seven cards only. You deal the cards, face upwards, in three packs, requesting one of the company to note a card, and to remember in which heap it is. ”

“ Impress upon him the necessity of holding the cards tightly, as the success of the trick depends entirely upon him, and all the performer offers to do is to knock all the cards on the floor except the one that was chosen. When the cards are properly held, the performer has to strike them sharply, upon which all except the bottom card should fall to the ground, and that, of course, is the selected card. The trick of striking the cards in the right place can only be learnt by practice. ”

“ But if such a contretemps should occur in the trick we have just described, it is very easily met. You will remember that the first card drawn is not forced, but freely chosen. It is well to make the most of this fact, and for that purpose, before beginning the trick, to offer the cards to be shuffled by several persons in succession, and specially to draw the attention of the audience to the fact that you90 cannot possibly have any card in view. When the card is chosen, offer to allow the drawer, if he has the slightest suspicion that you know what it is, to return it, and take another. ”

“ All card tricks are feats of great dexterity and quickness of hand. I never used a false pack of cards. There are some made for amateurs, but professionals never use trick cards. The greatest art is what is termed forcing, that is, making a party take the card you wish him to ”

“ If any one play to an imperfect trick the highest card on the table, or lead one which is a winning card against his adversaries, and then lead again, or play several such winning cards one after the other, without waiting for his partner to play, the latter may be called on to win, if he can, the first or any other of those tricks, and the other cards thus improperly played are exposed cards. ”

“ When cards of the same value are played at the same round, the first that was turned up wins the trick, unless, of course, it should be trumped or beaten by a card higher in value. When a player wishes to declare, he must do so immediately after taking a trick, and before supplying himself with a new card from the talon; and such cards as form a combination, after being declared, should be placed on the table, face upwards; being of the same value as if in the hand, they may be played away as they are needed. ”

“ I often hear what people think. You are thinking that if you had said subtraction instead of addition, I should have been in what is popularly called a hole. But you are mistaken. Now we will ask the cards to do the subtraction [49] sum. The seven will go back to the pack, and send another card in its place.” He drops all three cards back into the flower-pot, and brings them up as before, save that this time the trick card is made to face the other way. “Five—less two—are three! Quod erat demonstrandum, as our old friend Euclid used to say when he had just floored a new poser. ”

“ Force that card upon some person, hand him the pack, and request him to be good enough to place the drawn card in any position in the pack he chooses, and to place the pack in his own coat pocket, promising that the card drawn shall be picked out of the pack while in his pocket. The sense of touch will render the trick perfectly simple, and easy to perform as promised. The same trick may be varied by placing the cards under a hat, in a basket, bag, or in any other convenient receptacle. ”

“ The cards are then played, each card, excepting a nine or an inferior one, counting one.
The elder hand having played the first card, the dealer before answering the card must count his own game, point, sequence, quatorze, or carte-blanche, if he has it, and, after reckoning them altogether, he takes the first trick if he can with the same suit; if he cannot do so his opponent has the trick.
When the tricks are equal they do not count. The winner of the last trick counts two. ”

“ On returning you immediately refer him to the card which gives the correct answer. This is really a most puzzling trick and yet an easy one to perform. Commence by showing how the cards are to be moved by shifting a few yourself, noting how many you move, so you will remember which card you leave at the bottom. When you return to the room you subtract the number of pips on that card from ten and the product will show the number of the card from the top, the pips on which indicate the number of cards your friend has moved. ”

“ In its primary form, the trick is only an illustration of the well-known fact that the hand can move quicker than the eye can follow. It is performed with three cards—a court card and two plain cards. The operator holds them, face downwards, one between the second finger and thumb of the left hand, and the other two (of which the court card is one) one between the first finger and thumb, and the other between the second finger and thumb of the right hand, the latter being the outermost. ”

“ Is a card slightly curved. By introducing it carelessly into the pack, and shuffling them, it can be cut at pleasure. The trick of the “Old Gentleman” consists in merely introducing into the pack a card of thicker substance than the rest, which can likewise be cut at pleasure, by being properly placed by the shuffler.
SKINNING. It is by this operation that unfair cards are introduced, and too often without creating suspicion, by the ingenuity with which it is performed. ”

“ Hold it in the way described and bend it slightly, the convex side being towards the audience. Now, in the act of balancing the glass on the edge with your left hand just stick your right first finger straight up behind the card and rest the glass partly on the edge of the card and partly on the tip of your finger which, of course, is hidden by the card. It will be necessary to hold the card up fairly high so that no one can get a glimpse over the top of it. The trick is over so quickly that no one notices that the first finger is concealed behind the card. ”

“ How to name every card in a pack successively turned up by a second party, and win every trick at a hand of Whist.
This is, perhaps, the most astonishing of all tricks with cards. Although it may be true that whatever puzzle one man invents, some other man may unravel, as before observed, I am decidedly of opinion that this trick defies detection. At the first blush it seems very difficult to learn ”

“ When all the cards are drawn from the pack, the players take up their eight cards. No more declarations can he made, and the play proceeds as at Whist, the ten ranking higher than the king, and the ace highest. In the last eight tricks the player is obliged to follow suit, and he must win the trick if possible, either by playing a higher card, or, if he has not a card of the same suit, by playing a trump. A player who revokes in the last eight tricks, or omits to take when he can, forfeits the eight tricks to his opponent. ”

“ In this trick, as in every other which mainly depends upon forcing a given card, there is always the possibility that some person may, either by accident or from a malicious desire to embarrass you, insist upon drawing some other card. This, however, must not discourage you. In the first place, when you have once thoroughly acquired the knack of forcing, the victim will, nine times out of ten, draw the card you desire, even though doing his utmost to exercise, as he supposes, an absolutely free choice ”

“ The performer ensures the corresponding cards being drawn by using a forcing pack, made up of repetitions of the three cards in question, which we will suppose to be the queen of spades, the ten of hearts, and the seven of diamonds, with some other single card at the bottom. The tin case, in the original form of the trick, has two compartments—the one to the front being large enough to hold a complete pack, but the hinder one adapted to contain six or eight cards only. ”

“ To make Two Cards, each firmly held by a different Person, change places.—For the purpose of this trick you must have a duplicate of some one of the cards, say the knave of spades, and you must arrange your pack beforehand as follows: The bottom card must be a knave of spades; the next to it an indifferent card, say the nine of diamonds; and next above that, the second knave of spades. You come forward carelessly shuffling the cards (which you may do as freely as you please as to all above the three mentioned) , and finish by placing the undermost knave of spades on the top. ”

“ It will be found that the action of raising the cards causes a slight break at the spectator's card, and enables the performer to insert his little finger beneath the same and make the pass which brings the selected card to the bottom. After getting a glimpse of the card the pack can be again shuffled and the trick brought to a conclusion in any manner desired. ”

“ Seymour informed his children that the explanation of this trick would serve to show the manner in which most of the deceptions on cards were performed. He said, that the conjuror’s pack of cards always contained a card, technically termed a ‘brief card,’ or ‘the old gentleman,’ which is one made on purpose by the card-maker, and is a little larger than any of the rest; the performer always knows it by feeling it, and can easily force it upon the unsuspecting drawer ”

“ Holding ace, ten, and a small one, your partner leading the nine of the suit, pass it; for if he holds an honour you make two tricks, counting your ace for a certain trick.
With king, queen, or queen and knave, and another play one of the high cards in all cases when you are second hand. With an average remainder of trumps and good cards, having one certain loser, throw it away at your first opportunity; it may enable your partner to make his second best of the suit. When your partner does not trump a winning card you may be quite sure that he means you to play trumps. ”

“ The mere motion of taking the pack into the hand will give sufficient opportunity to return the palmed card into the pack. The possessor of a large hand with long fingers may in this way, if necessary, palm a whole pack of cards, and so enable him to increase very considerably his repertoire of card tricks.
TO MAKE THE PASS.
No one should attempt conjuring tricks with cards until he has thoroughly mastered this sleight; it requires a good deal of practice to perform it neatly and without risk of detection. ”

“ A person with a hard hand and stiff joints should never think of playing deception with the cards, as clumsy fingers will not do. In showing tricks with cards, the principal point consists in shuffling them nimbly, and yet keeping one certain card either at the bottom or in some known place of the pack, four or five cards from the bottom ”

“ Probably it was at no very recent date in the history of card-playing that some genius first recognised the advantage which would accrue to a player who could devise some means of placing a distinctive mark on the back of each card, imperceptible to all but himself, to indicate its suit and value. Every card-player must at some time or other have exclaimed mentally, 'Oh, if I only knew what cards my opponents hold!' There one has, then, the origin of marked cards. The sharp, above all others, desires to know his opponent's cards. ”