Learn the base of every card trick

Magic is real but not in the way you think of it. Indeed, street magicians should not be considered charlatans, but rather experts at one specific thing: misdirection. This simple guiding principle is at the heart of nearly every magic trick in the book. Creating the illusion of the impossible requires skill, practice and mastery. It is that illusion and the sense of wonder it brings forth that magicians sell, in a way. Yes, magic tricks can be extremely intricate but the fundamentals are still within your reach. Today, I want to guide you through the core foundation you need for prestidigitation using a simple deck of cards. With these fundamentals, you‘ll be able to make the ordinary extraordinary. Ready? Let‘s learn the art of making invisible the visible.

With great power…

Let us first introduce our tutor for the day. Most of what I‘ll describe below will be inspired by the most important and revered reference for card tricks: 1902 The Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. S.W. Erdnase, the pseudonym of Milton Franklin Andrews, was probably one of the greatest card swindlers of his time, putting himself in all sorts of trouble with his… particular skills. What was Andrew's favourite skill? Misdirection of course. Yes, misdirection needs to be accounted for in how you manipulate cards but your demeanour itself needs to misdirect. If your audience is not looking for tricks, they will not find them. The best way to guarantee that is to seem as ordinary and mundane as possible. Simply put: DON‘T ARROUSE SUSPICION. If you fake a shuffle (further information below), fake the shuffle you usually do. Don‘t exhibit your skills liberally. Wear standard features. Modern magicians all do as such and it makes sense. The more mundane what you do looks like, the less intricate it seems and the better the surprise.

Here are a few additional ways to redirect attention with discretion during a trick. Use visual cues to your advantage. If something stands out by its colour, shape or size, it will attract attention away from what you care about. This explains why most card tricks mix blue and red cardbacks. You can also direct attention with subtle hand gestures. Just pointing at something will be way more effective than you can expect. Holding your hand in a position that we don‘t typically associate with holding something will also subvert your audience‘s expectations. Of course, seeming mundane requires practice and method. I won‘t focus too much on that aspect but my best advice would be to practice what tricks you learn in front of a mirror. In that way, you can keep track of what you project when performing - the most important part. Now, for more practical advice.

Preparation is your friend

Any trick requires practice, yes, but you can prepare even the simplest card trick in many other ways. Andrews mentions many “hold-outs“ (physical elements prepared in advance) you can use for any card trick. First in importance would be to mark the deck. One way Andrews describes is quite simple. Most standard decks of cards have a tiled pattern on the back with at least 12 repetitions. Use it. You could, for example, mark cards by their rank. A mark on the first repetition of the pattern would mean it is an ace. One on the second would mean a king, etc. In that way, you can easily remember the position of almost every card in a way that is almost invisible if you are not looking for it. But just making a few cards stand out is enough for most tricks. That could also be done with a mark, but a cut or a bent can work too. You could also make the card physically stick out of the deck just enough for you to see it (called a ‘jog“). Making a small break into the deck is another way. Your fingers could even be used to secretly “point out“ the card you want to keep track of. Using slightly asymmetric cards can also work. Almost anything goes. What matters is that the card you need to keep track of stands out to you.

Another way you can prepare is by using a “cold deck“ - a deck of predetermined order used at the right time. Switching your current deck for the cold deck might itself require misdirection but it can be very powerful. Predictably, most preparation and setup is most effective when you‘re not looking like you're doing it and the best way to do that is to simply not do it yourself but leave it to someone else. Most complex tricks use accomplices (whether known by your public or not). Remember that your audience's attention will be on one person at a time. Use that to your advantage to misdirect using yourself or your accomplice as bait.

Scrapping information

Even without preparing some way to remember where cards are there are ways to keep track of some information during a trick itself. For Andrews, the most important skill to have here is to know of to look for the bottom card of a deck without being seen. Why the bottom card? Well simply because it is the easiest card to know of and keep track of. And, like I said before, just knowing one card is enough to build upon and succeed in almost any card trick. One easy way to look for it is with a riffle shuffle - even without faking it. A riffle shuffle will keep cards on top and bottom where they are. Riffle with your palm hiding the deck from your opponent. In that way, you can riffle all but the bottom cards and even discreetly look at them to boot. A standard shuffle is ideal to keep a pair of cards next to each other. Remember that: riffle for exact position and standard shuffle for adjacency.

Faking a shuffle itself is extremely easy too. A standard shuffle can be made in such a way as to not change to position of a few bottom cards. You can keep the targeted portion hidden in your palm while you shuffle the rest. It can be done to look quite natural too. A riffle shuffle can be completely undone by pairing it with another one made the other way. That might require a bit more practice though.

Closing act

That will be all for today. Not too bad, hey? I realize that I did not teach you any particular trick. It was the same with Andrews. What mattered to him were the skills bridging every trick. The trick itself doesn‘t matter that much and can even be improvised. What IS important is the effect - wonder, amazement and surprise. This is what makes magic such a delightful hobby. Just seeing eyes opening up or jaws dropping is enough to make my day. Besides, we all need a bit more marvel in our life. Here‘s hoping you can now better surround yourself with awe. I‘ll do my part.

Until then, see you next time.

References

Erdnase, S. W 1902. _The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation_ (1st Ed. reprint ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-28597-9.