The ‘Any Card at Any Number’ plot is one of the most powerful things you can do with a deck of cards. 

In this week’s Inner Circle content, I return to this iconic effect and share some new angles on it…

For the 1% of you who haven’t heard of this effect, here’s what it looks like:

The spectator chooses a number, and a card. They take the deck and deal the number they chose. The card they arrive at is, of course, their named card. 

You can’t get much more direct than that. 

I covered the basics of this effect in the Skyscraper Method, but one thing I didn’t talk about at the time was how we can perform this effect after letting the audience ‘mix’ the deck. 

I’m choosing my words pretty carefully here, as you might be able to tell. 

Because the truth is, the method I’m going to show you is dependent on using our trusty memorized deck—and so the audience really can’t shuffle. 

But they CAN ‘mix.’

Before I get too deep into this, let me catch you up with the basic method. 

Actually, here’s (some of) what I had to say about it in the Skyscraper Method:

“There’s a lot going for this method. 

The number is freely chosen. The cards aren’t touched. The spectator can count. The card feels free. You don’t rely on luck. 

If you want a surefire way of doing it that is still VERY powerful, this is the way to go.  

Here’s the method:

• You isolate the deck (in box, spectator’s hand, wherever)

• They freely name any number between 1 and 52

• In a second memorized deck, you force the card positioned at whichever number they name

• They count down to that number in the isolated deck and find the card they chose

For example:

• They name the number 27. 

• In a second mem deck, you force the 2C (the 27th card.)

• They then count 27 cards in the deck they’ve been holding, and find the 2C. 

It’s really that simple!

Of course, it’s a good idea to make sure you have a good forcing technique. If you have it mastered (to the extent that one can master such a move), the classic force is the option favored by many. 

But ever since I read these articles…

https://www.thejerx.com/blog/2017/10/8/the-force-awakens 

https://www.thejerx.com/blog/2017/10/8/the-force-unleashed  

…I’ve been open to other forcing methods, such as the simple cross-cut force. 

The cross-cut force simply involves letting the spectator cut the deck, placing the lower half on top of the upper half, letting sufficient time pass, and then lifting the cards and revealing the ‘card they cut to’ (which is actually the original top card.)

If that sounds confusing, feast yer eyes on this tutorial until you ‘get it’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysInSl0-AYY

Of course, the only remaining question is how we get the 2C to the top of the deck, but after all the work we’ve done on estimation cuts—I think that answer speaks for itself. 

That’s all there is to Method 1. But don’t underestimate how powerful it is. I recall when someone first used this method on me (although I didn’t know it as such at the time) it fooled me so hard I couldn’t stop thinking about it. In my mind, there was no solution. 

“But I was holding the deck the entire time! You didn’t even come near it! Isadjhkasd snlaksnd…”

NOTE: Another nice subtlety for this method (and subsequent methods) is to ask for a number, then interrupt them as they answer, citing that we need to pick a card first. Then, once we force the card, we can ask for their number as if we forgot, and do our best to sell it as the first time we heard it. That’s a subtlety I first saw Dani DaOrtiz use, but I’m sure he would forgive me for saying I believe its origin to be in Juan Tamariz’ work.”

 Ok.

Now that we’re all on the same page regarding the basic method, let me show you how to do the above even after the audience ‘mixes’ the deck. 

When I say ‘mix’, I’m really simply referring to ‘cuts.’

HOWEVER, this isn’t just semantics. 

There’s a reason I say ‘mix.’

When we do it right, we can make cutting the deck FEEL like ‘mixing’ the deck. 

In my way of thinking—the more we refer to it as such in OUR mind, the more natural it should feel to convince the audience of it when we do so. 

I use two main strategies for this:

1. Give the audience the chance to cut the deck as many times as they like, and remind them each time that ‘every time you cut, you change the order of the cards. If you stop here, we’ll have a certain order. If you cut one more time, that order will be changed. Once this trick is over, I want you to remember that you COULD have made just one more cut if you wanted to.’

Doing this both emphasises the ‘control’ they have over the order of the cards, and makes for a fun moment where they can tell you’re trying to get in their head and don’t know what to do. 

Of course, needless for me to say, we don’t care either way—as long as they’re giving the deck single cuts, our memorized order is going to maintain itself.  

1. Take the deck back, and then ask for a number between 1 and 20. Once they give you that number, ask them if they want you to move that many cards from top to bottom, or bottom to top. Whatever they say, do so, but make sure you count the cards without reversing their order. 

I first saw Dani DaOrtiz use this ploy in his ‘Or Not’ effect, and it’s pure genius. 

Really, all you’re doing is cutting the deck. It’s no different. 

But for some reason, asking them to name a number, and then choosing whether the cards come off the bottom or top, makes the whole thing FEEL more like ‘mixing’ than cutting. 

It also creates the illusion that the number of cards they choose, or where they choose to move them, is important (it isn’t, it’s just a cut either way.)

When the effect ends, they may well end up asking the wrong questions entirely (“what if I’d said to move 10 cards instead of 9?”), and of course, if they’re asking the wrong questions, they’re never going to find the right answers. 

Alright. 

Now that the cards have been ‘mixed’, here’s what we do…

1. Glimpse the bottom card

This is the only information we need. Let’s say the bottom card is now the KH (card #35 in the Mnemonica stack.)

1. Get them to choose a number

Once they’ve named a number, we simply add that number to the stack number of the card we previously glimpsed. That tells us the identity of the card at that position in the deck. 

If they named ‘12’, we’d add 12 to 35 to get 47. 

Card 47 is the 7C. 

If they named ‘20’, we’d add 20 to 35 to get 55. 

However, since the stack ends at 52, we start again at the start of the stack. Since 55-52 is 3, we’ll end up on the 3rd card.  

Card 3 is the 7D.

1. Force that card in a second deck

In a second deck (also stacked), we estimation cut that card to the top and force it on the spectator using any method you like. 

1. Get them to deal the number they called out in the ‘mixed’ stack

On dealing that number, they’ll arrive at the named card. 

Simple, right?

But don’t underestimate how incredibly powerful this is. 

Let me remind you what I said earlier about the effect this had on me:

“I recall when someone first used this method on me (although I didn’t know it as such at the time) it fooled me so hard I couldn’t stop thinking about it. In my mind, there was no solution. 

“But I was holding the deck the entire time! You didn’t even come near it! Isadjhkasd snlaksnd…” “

Go out and have some fun with this!

I’ll be back next week and show you how to do this effect even after you ‘shuffle’ the deck. 

Your friend, 

Benji