#8 The Fastest Trick I Know

Show your audience 2 cards. Slide them into the middle of the deck. Toss the deck from one hand to the other and by magic, the 2 cards are back in your hand. Very Fast! Very Magical!!

I can’t remember where I learned this one but I was already performing it all over Southern Ontario when I saw it on “The World’s Greatest Magic” TV Special many years ago.

It’s the speed that is amazing. And even if the audience guesses or knows that you switched the 2 cards, (which they may if your timing is wrong at the beginning – remember to practice), they will still be stunned by the way the cards come out of the deck. Remember, they don’t know those 2 cards are on the face and back of the deck.

This should be the first card trick of your show or stroll because the deck is prepared. When you are doing this in a strolling environment, it is easy to reset the deck so it is ready to perform at the next table. At the end of the trick, you will be holding the deck in one hand and the two cards in the other. Just put both cards on top of the deck and go into your pocket to get the card box. Then as you move the cards towards the box, just move the top card to the bottom of the deck and put them in the box. If you do this as you continue to talk to the people at the table, either thanking them before moving on or going right into your next trick, no one will notice.

And here’s a little but very important TIP: when you walk up to the next table and take out your cards, look at the bottom card! If it is not one of the four cards in this trick, then it’s because the 2 are both on the top of the deck (in which case, just move one card from the top to the bottom as you look through the cards) or you forgot to reset the deck somehow. Either you did another trick or you put all 4 cards in the middle!

So, DO a different card trick. Don’t try to set up the cards right there at the table in front of a waiting group. Even if you turn away from them, it slows down your presentation, is not professional and still may give away the trick to a very observant onlooker.

Any time I take a deck of cards out of my pocket, I do a few card “flourishes”(card manipulations). A few card fans and springing the cards from one hand to the other lets the audience know that you are magical even before you’ve done a trick. This is also a good way to check if you need a new deck. If the cards won’t fan evenly, I know it’s time. Just Google ‘card fan tutorials’ and ‘springing the cards tutorials’ and you’ll find many videos on YouTube. Doing fans and springing cards doesn’t disturb the order of the cards, which is what you want for this trick.

I would suggest you try this for a larger table with a group who are not too intent on catching the magician, but who are just having a good time or in a stage show so you will be making a big semi-circular sweep with the 2 cards. Once you know it works, try it on a couple and see how it goes.

So approach the table, take out your cards and do a few flourishes and then get right into the trick. The more people there are at the table or in the audience the less likely you will be caught because you have to make a big swing around to show everyone the cards, giving everyone less time looking at the cards. When you are doing this trick for just one or two people right in front of you, slide the cards back and forth 3 times and put them back into the deck.

Once the 2 cards are in the deck, this is where I usually spring the cards again as a magical effect, like using magic dust or a wand. I did it in the video. I usually say: “The cards go into the deck (put cards into the middle of the deck) and just like that (spring the cards), they jump back out (throw the deck from hand to hand and spread the two cards).

If you practice showing the initial 2 cards while smoothly sliding them back and forth, you can move quite quickly without seeming to rush and causing the audience to feel you are trying to hide something. That’s the real trick.

Smooth practice makes Magic!
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Steve Baker is a magician located in the GTA residing North of Orangeville.

Since 1997, Steve has entertained adults and children at private functions and large public venues to amaze them with sleight of hand, strolling magic tricks, mentalism and fun characters from Dundas to Dryden and from Belleville to Burlington, Ontario.