Just Once More--The Aces

The dovetail shuffle, just detailed, lends itself to an effective version of the four ace trick for close work, where quick, snappy action is necessary to impress your auditors.

You take out the aces, letting it be seen that there are no others in the pack, and you insert them in the fanned deck, in the manner described. The action continues in the same way, but as you throw the four aces on the top of the pack in the last movement of the shuffle, you slip the tip of your left little finger under them. You thus have a break between the four aces and the other cards, so that you are able to palm them off quickly without having to count them.

You hand the pack to a spectator to shuffle and at once thrust both hands into your trouser pockets. You fumble about in your left pocket with your left hand and look down at it, but bring the hand out empty. "That's funny," you say, "I thought I felt something." In the meantime your right hand in your right pocket has pushed off the undermost of the palmed aces from the others which you retain in the palm. Withdraw your right hand and at once thrust it into your vest at the top, again leave one ace and bring out the hand apparently empty, really with two aces still palmed. Reaching into your top left vest pocket you produce one ace, pulling it out at the fingertips and retaining the last one in the palm. "I thought something hit me. Here's another.'' You place your hand under your coat at the shoulder and bring out the ace. You are now able to let it be seen that your hand is empty before bringing the third ace from the right trouser pocket, and the last one you produce by thrusting your hand under the bottom of your vest and reaching up for it. In the meantime the person to whom you gave the pack to shuffle, finds that the aces really have left his hands.

Snappily done the trick is most effective. It seems impossible to the layman that four well separated cards could be located in short order, and their reproduction from different places forms a fitting climax, to be rewarded with a generous round of applause.