Thought Anticipated

This is a striking effect in which a principle is used that has been much neglected in recent years, the use of the faced pack.

This is what apparently happens. A spectator shuffles the deck and satisfies himself that it is well mixed and regular in every way. You then pass the cards one by one before his eye, from hand to hand, counting them as you do so, asking him to note any card and remember both it and the number at which it occurs. A second person then names any other number and you cause the card to transfer itself to that new position in the pack.

Do not confuse this feat with the ancient one wherein you begin the second count with the first number. Your second count is made from one and then on in regular order.

Here is the new method. You take the shuffled pack and pass the cards before the person's eyes, one by one, asking him to mentally select any card and to remember its number as you count them aloud. You do this slowly and deliberately so that a choice will be made before you reach, say fifteen. At that number you stop and replace the fifteen cards on the pack in the same order.

Turning to another spectator you ask him to think of any number, say between fifteen and thirty, this merely so that the effect may not be dragged out too long. Requesting both persons to think intently of their numbers you put the pack behind your back. You gaze earnestly at the two persons in turn as if you were engaged in some deep calculation.

All you really do is to divide the pack in halves and place them face to face. Turn the pack so that the original top cards become the lower half and bring the pack forward. You hold the cards ready to deal and you ask everyone to remember that the card and the numbers have been merely thought of, that yon have asked no questions, so that, unless you have read their minds correctly, there is no way by which you could know the card or the numbers.

"What was your number?" you ask the first person. "Seven? I knew it," you say confidently. "Let me show you that it has left that position." You deal out six cards face down and turn over the seventh. It is of course, an indifferent card. "That is not your card, is it?" He agrees.

"Now," you turn to the second person. "What number did you think of? Twenty? I was sure of it. Let us see if the card has arrived there."

As soon as the second number is given you mentally subtract the first number from it and the result gives you the number of Cards you must deal before you turn the pack over. In this case seven from twenty leaves thirteen, so you have to deal thirteen cards before you turn the pack and continue the count from the other side. You have already dealt seven cards, six remain to be dealt before you reverse the deck. You continue dealing and when you reach the thirteenth card, pause before placing that card down. Holding it in your right hand you say:

"Thirteen is my unlucky number. Does this happen to he your card?" You throw it face up on the table, and at the same time drop your left hand a little, turning it so that the back of the hand is uppermost, thus turning the pack over,

"Not your card? Then I am sure I have succeeded. Don't name it yet." You continue the count deliberately, the cards now coming from the original top of the deck. On reaching the number twenty you place that card face down on the table apart from the others. You emphasize the fact that the card was selected mentally and the utter impossibility of the whole thing. The card is named and you slowly turn it over.

This trick has a bewildering effect on an audience. The necessary turn of the pack is made when the spectators have no cause for any suspicion, and the last cards are dealt so fairly and openly that they can only give you all the credit for having worked a small miracle. You have merely to subtract the first number from the second to arrive at the number at which the pack has to be turned and this number is always at your "unlucky number."

It only remains to right the pack so that it will be ready for the next trick. The neatest way to do this is to take advantage of the surprise caused by the appearance of the card thought of, to riffle the inner end of the deck until you come to the point at which the two packets come face to face. Slip the tip of your left little finger between them. Then grip the top half between the thumb and fingers of your right hand and let the left hand with the lower half drop an inch or so. Put the point of your left thumb under this lower packet and press it upward, causing the packet to turn over. At once bring the two packets together and again riffle the cards.

In the unlikely chance that someone has kept his eyes fixed on your hands the slight motion made will be under cover of the back of your right hand and will pass as part of the action of riffling.

An alternative method which is bold but out of which you can get some fun, is to riffle shuffle the two packets as they are, face to face, thus throwing the face up cards amongst those face down, but keeping a face down card on top. You hand the pack in this condition to a person to shuffle prior to doing another trick. Then you ask him what sort of a card handler he is and show him the mess he has got them into.