Sam Fury - Basic Card Magic

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INTRODUCTION

This card magic book has 25 no-setup and gimmick-free card tricks. This means you will be to pick up any standard deck of cards, have your spectator shuffle them, then perform any of the tricks in this book.

This book is split into six sections, and is laid out so you learn a variety of card-magic skills in a progressive manner. If you are a total beginner, start from the start and practice each new technique as you come to it.

If you already know some basic skills, you can skip to any trick you want to learn. If there is a new skill you dont know, use the internal links (if your device allows you to do so) or refer to the contents page to find the tutorial on how to do it.

Each section will teach you fundamental card-magic skills and several tricks to go with them.

In most of the sections, the tricks are combined into a themed sequence. You can use the sequences as they are, tweak them, combine them, mix them up, or use any trick on its own.

Here is a brief explanation of the six sections:

• Basic Handling. Basic card handling skills accompanied with "self-working" prediction tricks.
• Keeping Track. Several tricks designed to fool your spectator about where his card is.
• Soulmates. Soulmates are two cards that share the same face value and color, for example, the ace of hearts and the ace of diamonds. The tricks in this section revolve around this concept.
• Reversals. Tricks in which the selected card reveals itself facing in the opposite direction to the rest of the cards.
• Ambitious Card. A famous card sequence in which the spectators selection continuously returns back to the top of the deck.
• Color changes. Several ways to make cards instantly change from one to another, or disappear completely.

TERMINOLOGY

Here is a list of card-magic-specific terminology used in this book:

• Break. Creating a gap between the cards that your spectator cant see. Usually done with either your pinky or thumb.
• Color change. Instantly changing one card for another.
• Control. Moving a card to a certain position in the deck without your spectator knowing.
• Cut or cutting the cards. Taking a portion of cards off the top of the deck.
• Swing cut. A type of cut where the top packet of cards pivots on your thumb while being transferred to your other hand.
• Deck. A full packet of cards.
• Dominant hand. The hand you are most comfortable using for common acts, such as writing.
• Non-dominant hand. The hand that isnt your dominant hand.
• Double lift. Lifting two cards as one.
• Trick. A single effect in a sequence.
• False shuffle. Shuffling the cards while keeping some or all of them in order.
• Finishing clean. Finishing a trick with no evidence of how you did it.
• Flashing. Unintentionally showing a card or technique.
• Flush. Making or having the cards align perfectly.
• Force. Making your spectator choose the card you want her to choose.
• Force card. The card you are forcing.
• Gimmick. A prop used to make a trick possible that the spectator is unaware of.
• In-jog. When one or more cards stick in towards you more than the rest of the packet.
• Out-jog. When one or more cards stick out towards you more than the rest of the packet.
• Method. How you perform a trick.
• Packet. A portion of cards.
• Patter. What you say while performing a trick.
• Peek. Secretly looking at the value of a card.
• Picture cards. Cards that are not assigned a number (such as the jack, queen, and king).
• Reveal. The part of a trick that shows that something "magical" has happened.
• Riffle. Allowing the cards to leave the grip of your fingers or thumb one by one.
• Selection. The card you or your spectator chooses.
• Sequence. A number of tricks performed one after another.
• Setup. An action you need to do before performing a trick in order to make the trick work.
• Shuffle. Mixing up the cards.
• Sleight. A technique used to help make the trick work.
• Soulmates. Two cards that share the same face value and color.
• Spectator. The person for whom you are performing the trick.
• Squaring. The act of aligning a packet or deck of cards flush with each other.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MAGIC

Here are some fundamental principles which will help you in all areas of magic.

Not all of these principles will apply to every trick, but in general, adhering to them will make your sleights, tricks, and sequences better.

Misdirection is when you draw your spectators attention to one thing to prevent him from noticing another.

There are two basic ways to do this. The first encourages the spectator to look away. Some examples of this are to:

• Look up, so the spectator follows your eyes.
• Ask him to look at and memorize his card.
• Use patter, so he looks at you instead of your hands.

The second method of redirection is to use a larger movement to cover the smaller one. The idea of this is that the spectator will think the larger movement contains the secret, and so will not pay attention to how the real sleight is happening. A basic example of this is to do a sleight under the guise of squaring up a deck of cards.

Use the same action when doing a sleight as you would when doing the action normally. If you use one action to do something and then another when doing a sleight, it will look suspicious.

Patter is what you say throughout a trick and/or sequence of tricks. It has several uses:

• Misdirection. Engaging patter can distract your spectator from things you dont want him to see.
• Memory aid. Creating a story will help you remember the sequence of sleights in a trick and/or the order of tricks in your sequence.