Imagine this…
You ask someone to pick a number between 1 and 15, then you get someone else to choose a card. Then you deal the number they chose and arrive at a card of the same value as their named card! It’s impressive, but not a knockout effect.
Or at least, that’s until you do the following…
They pick up the deck and deal the same number again. This time the card they turn over is the exact card they named!
For the method, check out this week’s Inner Circle content…
This method uses an idea I’ve never seen someone else use—the idea of combining Pit Hartling and Denis Behr’s Quartets with an old forcing device that pairs VERY nicely.
(If you aren’t familiar with the Quartet principle, check out the training we did on this in Module 5 of the Skyscraper Method.)
The very basic explanation of a Quartet is that we have simply noted down and remembered the distance numbers between each card in a four of a kind. But seriously, go catch up at the link above before reading on.
Done?
Here’s how it works…
- Ask an audience member to name a number between 1 and 15 (justify this by explaining they’re going to have to deal cards, and we don’t want it going on too long)
Now, whatever number they name, it will in almost all cases correspond with a distance number in one of our Quartets.
I’ll use Aronson stack for this explanation, since it probably has the best range of Quartet values.
Aronson:
Aces: (Spades) – 4, 8, 4.
Twos: (Spades) – 10, 5, 9.
Threes: (Hearts) – 10, 7, 16.
Fours: (Hearts) – 2, 6, 8.
Fives: (Clubs) – 9, 8, 7.
Sixes: (Hearts) – 5, 5, 11.
Sevens: (Diamonds) – 4, 6, 3.
Eights: (Hearts) – 15, 7, 7.
Nines: (Hearts) – 5, 5, 5.
Tens: (Spades) – 21, 3, 3.
Jacks: (Clubs) – 1, 2, 17
Queens: (Diamonds) – 5, 22, 2.
Kings: (Hearts) – 13, 11, 12.
In fact, the only number between 10-15 that’s NOT in here is 14 (but we’ll come back to that later.)
- Once they’ve named a number and we’ve recalled a Quartet with that number in it, cut the PRECEDING card to that distance number to the top of the deck
I know that sounded confusing, so let me break it down…
Let’s say they named ‘13.’
In this case, the only Quartet group with a ‘13’ is the Kings.
In the Quartet chart, ‘13’ simply means that after the previous King, we’d need to deal 13 cards to land on the next one.
As you know, the suit in brackets simply means we START the count from that card. For the Kings, we’re meant to start the count from the King of Hearts. After the King of Hearts, we need to deal 13 cards to land on the next one (if you know the stack, you’ll know that’s the King of Spades.)
If, instead, the number they asked for was ‘11’, we’d need to cut the King of Spades to the top.
That’s because 11 comes after 13, and we know the King that corresponds with ‘13’ is the King of Spades.
For now, let’s stick with our earlier example—the audience member chose ‘13’ and we cut the King of Hearts to the top.
Now that this is tracking, you’re probably wondering WHY we’re doing all this…
Let’s continue with the explanation.
- In a second deck, force the card we just cut to the top
We just cut the King of Hearts to the top.
In a second deck, we’re going to force the King of Hearts on a second audience member (or the same if you’re performing for an audience of one.)
- Hand them the first deck, and ask them to deal the number they previously asked for
(feel free to give it as many false shuffles prior to this as you like)
Going back to our previous example—they chose 13, so we’re going to get them to deal 13 cards.
Before they do, remind them:
“You asked for a King, right?”
Because we cut the King of Hearts to the top, dealing 13 cards will ensure that they turn over the King of Spades as the last card of their count.
At this point, we can try playing this as the entirety of the effect.
“You chose 13, you chose King…when we dealt 13 we got a King!”
While they react, we do one simple thing:
We place the cards they just dealt back on top of the deck.
That’s it.
No crazy sleight of hand or misdirection required.
We simply take the pile of facedown cards (turn the King of Spades facedown if it’s faceup) and place it back on top of the deck.
We’re now perfectly set up for the next phase…
- Get them to deal the number again, and see what they find this time…
Since the King of Hearts was the top card, and they dealt 13 cards, what we’ve actually done is place it in the 13th position.
Now, they can deal 13 cards again, and this time they’ll turn over the King of Hearts as the last card of their count.
(This is of course based on the old force of having your force card on the top of the deck, asking for a number, dealing that number yourself and then ‘realising’ you need the spectator to deal—at which point you’ve already placed the force card at the number called for.)
That’s really all there is to it.
I like this effect because, if you’re familiar with the Quartets, it really doesn’t require learning anything ‘extra’—it’s just another way to leverage something you already know.
Now, before I close this, let me follow up on what I promised earlier…
If they name ‘14’, here’s what to do…
Simply act as if they said 15, and proceed as usual until it comes to dealing down through the deck. This time, after they deal 14 cards, have them turn over the NEXT card and show that is the value match card. Then, when you place the packet back on top of the deck, leave out the 15th card and place that back on the bottom (ensuring the force card is 14 cards down.)
Alright, that’s enough memorized deck nerding out for today.
I’ll be back next week.