Bonus: Self-Working Card Tricks

Bonus Self-working Card Tricks

The spectator finds all four aces

What the audience sees

A spectator divides the deck into four piles, follows the same mixing procedure with each pile and then turns over the top cards: four aces.

Secret setup

Put all four aces on top of the face-down deck. Their order does not matter.

How to perform it

1. Ask the spectator to divide the deck into four roughly equal piles by lifting off packets—not by dealing cards individually. Keep track of the pile containing the original top four cards: the aces.

2. Start with any pile that does not contain the aces. Have the spectator:

   • Pick it up, keeping it face down.

   • Move its top three cards to its bottom.

   • Deal one card onto each of the other three piles.

   • Put the remaining packet back in its place.

3. Repeat that exact procedure with each of the other two non-ace piles.

4. Finally, repeat it with the ace pile.

5. Have the spectator turn over the top card of every pile. Each is an ace.

Why it works

The first three piles each contribute one ordinary card to the ace pile. When the spectator finally processes that pile, moving three cards to the bottom removes those ordinary cards and exposes the aces. Three aces get dealt onto the other piles, and the fourth stays on top.

Presentation line: “A good poker player finds opportunities. Let’s see whether you can find four.”

Important: Process the ace pile last, keep every packet face down and make the piles roughly equal so none is too small for the procedure.

Deal yourself a royal flush

What the audience sees

You deal five poker hands and show an ordinary-looking result. You gather the hands, deal again and this time your hand is a royal flush. This is a simple two-deal stacking trick.

Secret setup

Put the 10, jack, queen, king and ace of one suit on top of the face-down deck. Any order works.

How to perform it

1. Deal five face-down poker hands, one card at a time around the table, until each hand contains five cards. Your hand is the fifth hand—the last one dealt to each round.

2. Leave each hand as a squared packet, placing each new card on top of its previous cards. Don’t spread them out.

3. Explain that these are ordinary poker hands. If you show them, turn each packet face up as a unit, then face down again without rearranging its cards.

4. Pick up one complete hand and place it on top of the undealt deck.

5. Pick up each remaining hand and place it on top of the deck in the same way. The order in which you collect the five hands does not matter; preserving the order inside each hand does.

6. Without shuffling or cutting, deal five hands again, one card at a time. Deal yourself the fifth hand.

7. Reveal your five cards: a royal flush.

Why it works

The first deal puts one royal-flush card at the bottom of each five-card hand. Gathering those packets onto the deck places those cards at positions 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. On the second deal, the fifth player—you—receives all five.

Presentation line: “The first deal was luck. The second deal is why you should never let me deal.”