Stripper deck

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A stripper deck (or stripper pack) is a specially constructed deck of playing cards. In fact, the secret in this deck is so subtle, the spectator can believe that the magician is using a random deck. But when a random card is chosen and is placed back in the deck, the magician can just "strip" the chosen card and reveal in any way. This secret of the deck also makes tricks used with it mostly straightforward and it is said to fail any exposure of sleight of hand. This deck is known to both magicians and card players alike, especially poker players who specialize in cheating, and is not related to the similarly named stripped deck. Some magicians prefer to call this deck a 'Wizard Deck' as a way of not giving away the secret.

[edit] Method

The secret in such a deck is that each card has a cut on one of its longer edges and all cards are cut the same way. This cut starts from one corner from the card (preferably, the upper left corner, if seen from the back) and ends somewhere near the midpoint. This is done in such a way that one end of the card is slightly narrower than the other. In fact, the cut on each card is so subtle that the card looks normal (unless one takes a closer look).

For the sake of explanation, the side where the cut is found is called the "narrow side," while the other side is called the "wide side."

One of the tricks involved in using a stripper deck is the description stated above: letting a spectator choose a card and immediately locating it. This works by turning the rest of the deck over so the wide sides face the spectator (if the magician starts with the narrow sides face the spectator). Depending on how the spectator returns the chosen card, the magician must make sure that the narrow side of the card is towards the spectator in order for the rest of the trick to work. The card returned with narrow edge towards the spectator would have its wide side protruding among the narrow sides of the other cards. This way, the card can easily be removed and revealed in any way the magician sees fit.

Although the trick above is straightforward, misdirection can also play a part in this trick by simply turning the deck over while the spectator is busy looking at the card and showing it to his/her companions, if any. The deck can also be turned over naturally when the cards are spread out on a table and re-gathered.

Another trick is mixing the black-suited cards and the red-suited ones and separating them in just one cut. For this to work, the cards are separated into two piles depending on color (a pile of red-suited cards and a pile of black-suited ones). One pile of cards should be turned so that like sides (broader or narrow) face each other. Then, the cards are shuffled as with a normal deck and are shown that the cards are mixed. Then the broader sides are gripped with both hands and the cards are pulled apart. To a spectator, this movement appears to be a cut. Then the cards are shown to have separated by color once again.

There are many other card tricks involving this type of deck, but the principle is the same, the cards chosen are "stripped" and eventually revealed in some way in the end.

One can easily make a stripper deck by buying an ordinary deck and using a pair of scissors on each card or an office paper cutter on the whole deck to make the subtle cut on each card. But professionals generally advise that one must buy a professionally-prepared one because a home-made one which is cut with scissors might come out crude and might become obvious in the long run.

Aside from the more common stripper decks which have their cuts at the longer sides of the cards, there are also "end strippers" where each card's cut is found at one of the shorter sides. These types are said to have been used by erring card players long before magicians do and there are tricks that are specifically devised for these types of stripper decks.