Reading The Cards

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Reading The Cards is a magic effect in which the magician shows the bottom card of the deck to the audience, announcing its name. He then puts the deck behind his back and brings it forward again, showing a different card on the bottom, and announces the name of the new bottom card. The trick becomes more amazing as more cards are "read", and is even more impressive if the audience is allowed to shuffle the deck first.

[edit] Method

Before performing the trick, the magician secretly notes the bottom card of the deck. Then, he puts the cards behind his back and turns the top card face up. While showing the bottom card to the audience (and announcing its value) he notes the value of the top card which is facing him. The next time he puts the deck behind his back, he moves the top card to the bottom (turning it over in the process, so that it will face the right way) and turns the new top card face up. Again, he announces the value of the bottom card while seeing the value of the face up top card. This can be repeated as long as is desired. When the magician desires to stop, he will move the face up top card to the bottom (turning it over) and leave the top card face down, and make one last announcement of the bottom card's value. All of the cards are now facing the same direction and there is nothing for the audience to find if the cards are examined.

[edit] Literature

• Professor Hoffmann, Modern Magic ISBN 0-486-23623-4

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