FalseShuffle

Out of this World Card Trick

by Paul Curry (1942)

Effect

The magician shuffles the deck, and then he takes out two cards and places them face up on the table. One card is black, and the other card is red. The magician then hands the spectator the deck and instructs him to start dealing the cards face down on top of either the red card or the black card. If the spectator thinks the card he is at is black, he should place it on the black card. If he thinks the card he is at is red, he should place it on the red card. About half way through, the magician makes two new piles for red and black cards, and the spectator is asking to continue. When the spectator has successfully separated the entire deck, he and the magician turn over the four piles that were made. All of the black cards are found to be in the black piles. All of the red cards are found to be in the red piles.

Method

  1. First, you must start with a deck of 52 cards.
  2. Before the trick, secretly setup the deck so that all of the red cards are at the bottom half of the deck and all of the black cards are at the top half of the deck.
  3. Now, perform a red black shuffle, preserving the red/black nature of the deck. Alternatively, you can perform a complete deck false shuffle like the Zarrow shuffle.
  4. Spread through the deck so that only you can see the faces. Make sure all the cards are still in red/black order. If they aren't, casually cull them to the proper side.
  5. As you spread through the deck, remove two cards: one black card and one red card.
  6. Place the red card face up on the table to your left. Place the black card face up on the table to your right.
  7. Hand the deck of card to your spectator. Instruct the spectator to start dealing cards, one at a time, face down into either the red pile or the black pile. If he thinks the card is red, he is to place the card face down on top of the red card. If he thinks the card is black, he is to place the card face down on top of the black card.
  8. As the spectator deals the cards, secretly count how many he has dealt. If you can, look up and around as he does this to eliminate suspicion.
  9. After the spectator has delt 25 cards, say, "Now I'm going to stop you right there."
  10. Since the last card the spectator dealt was black, turn over the top card of the red pile and say, "See, you made a mistake. But I will fix it for you. This pile will now be the black pile."
  11. Next, say, "I also know that the next card is red, so I will make the pile on my right the new red pile."
  12. Turn over the top card of the deck in the spectator's hand to reveal that it is indeed red. Place that card face up on top of the old black pile (the pile to your right).
  13. Instruct the spectator to continue as he was, placing cards, one at a time, onto either pile.
  14. When the spectator has finished, there should be two piles on the table. From top to bottom, the left pile should have a number of face down cards, followed by a face up black card, followed by a number of face down cards, followed by a face up red card. From top to bottom, the right pile should have a number of face down cards, followed by a face up red card, followed by a number of face down cards, followed by a face up black card.
  15. Pick up the pile to your left, and instruct the spectator to pick up the remaining pile.
  16. Tell the spectator to spread through his pile until he finds the first face up "marker" card. Do the same with your pile.
  17. Instruct the spectator to split the cards in his hand into two piles, leaving the "marker" cards at the bottom of each pile.
  18. As the spectator does this, split your pile in two at the same spot. However, when you make the split, secretly slip the bottom "marker" card underneath the top half. Leave the black "marker" card side jogged a little bit when you make the split.
  19. Next, pull the outjogged black "marker" card away from its pile and underneath the other pile.
  20. At this point, you have effectively swapped the two "marker" cards in your pile while separating your pile into two.
  21. Place your two piles onto the table, and instruct the spectator to do the same.
  22. Allow the spectator to turn over the cards in each pile. He will soon see that he correctly divided the cards into reds and blacks!

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