Originally posted by Brian Rasmussen:
What do most consider the best card routines to use standing in front of 20-30 people?
Hi Brian,
There is a marketed card effect called "PHIL". This plays really big and packs really small. Anyone who has seen this effect done by me or anyone else can confirm the reactions received in this size of crowd you are talking about. I have personally performed this in the Parlor at the Castle and that room seats almost 60.
For another effect, here is one directly from my lecture notes. Gratis.
No Palm, No Misdirection, Card To Pocket
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EFFECT: Four cards are removed from the deck and given face down to a spectator. Emphasize that you will not look at the faces of the cards from this point on. Show the spectator the faces of the four cards and ask him to remember any one of them. Square up the packet and re-spread them, but the selected card is gone! Not only is it gone, but it traveled to your pocket. Show your empty hand, then reach into your pocket to pull out the selected card.
SETUP: Using any four of a kind, youll need a duplicate set in your front right pocket. For the example, well use the four 9s: 9C, 9H, 9S, 9D. Put the duplicate set into your front pants pocket in CHaSeD order (Club, Heart, Spade, Diamond) before your performance.
TIP: The only move you need for this effect is the Ascanio Spread.
Since the Ascanio Spread is the foundation for this trick, Ive included the explanation below:
ASCANIO SPREAD: This shows four cards as three cards. The goal is to square up the four cards, peel off the top card, then the bottom card, all the while holding the two center cards as one. For best results, get four cards and perform the steps as you read them here.
Hold the packet in your right hand about chest high, with the faces toward the audience, cards perpendicular to the floor.
The bottom right corner of the packet should be on your thumb pad while your middle finger is at the top of the packet, off center toward the right.
With your left thumb, peel off the back card to your left, (the card should naturally stick to your thumb) and as you do this, let your fingertips from your left hand glide the front card off in the same way direction as the back card.
Start to glide off the back card from the packet and then, at the same time, glide the card off of the front of the packet so you have two cards freely shown in your left hand. This will leave your right hand holding a two-card packet looking like a singleton. Done correctly, the spread should look as if only three cards are in your hands; two in your left and one in your right hand.
Force any one of the nines to the spectator and say, No matter what card you select, well remove all of those cards out of the pack. For example, if you select a seven, then well remove all of the sevens out of the deck. Make sure you know which of the four you forced!
NOTE: I name a different card than the one Im going to force so the spectator believes he freely selected the card.
The spectator picks the nine and you quickly go through the deck and pull out the rest of the nines. After you get them all, set the deck aside and hand the four nines face down to the spectator.
Tell the spectator to mix them up so that no one will know the order of the cards in the packet. (Its important to tell your spectator youll not look at the faces of the cards from this point on.)
The spectator hands you the now-mixed packet.
As the spectator thinks of his card, thumb off the top two cards into your right hand, leaving the other two cards in your left hand. Pinch-grip each two-card packet and, while showing the faces to the spectator, spread them slightly so each card face clearly shows.
Ask the spectator, In which of my hands is your card? Whichever hand the spectator suggests, drop the packet in that hand onto the top of the packet in your other hand.
For instructional purposes, well number the cards 1 4, 1 being the top card of the packet, 4 the bottom.
Peel off the top card (card 1) and place it on the bottom of the packet. The cards are now in the top-to-bottom order 2, 3, 4 and 1.
Peel off the next card, then the next, (reversing their order) and then drop those two cards on top of the original top and bottom cards of the packet. The top-to-bottom order is now 3, 2, 4 and 1.
Repeat this step keeping the same handling: thumb off the top two cards into your right hand, leaving the other two cards in your left hand. Pinch-grip each two-card packet and, while showing the faces to the spectator, spread them slightly so each card face clearly shows.
Ask the spectator once again In which of my hands is your card? Whichever hand the spectator suggests, drop the packet in that hand onto the top of the packet in your other hand.
Now, ask the spectator to name his card. As he does so, perform the Ascanio spread. (Make sure you snugly hold the packet containing the hidden card!) The selected card will be missing because the double shuffling in the above steps sets up the cards for the Ascanio spread to hide the selected card.
After you show the selected card is no longer in the packet, dramatically produce the duplicate of the selected card from your pocket. Because you loaded the cards in ChaSeD order, you can easily pick the correct card. (You can also load each card or pair of cards into different pockets if you prefer.)
Put the card back in your pocket and perform a magical motion, and now perform a fair spread of the cards, showing the no-longer-missing selected card.
(The card-to-pocket effect was taken from Aldo Colombinis Get Off My Spread, and is used with his kind permission. Its a great stand-alone effect with many more twists to it. Im only using a small portion of that effect as a vehicle to get me to another part of the routine)
This trick is a nice lead-in to the McClintock Twist or any other effect you may do that requires four of a kind.
www.JeffEzellMAGIC.com
