Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Card Magic Tricks and other Magic topics.
Here is one of my favorite card tricks. It's easy to remember and plays well, particularly with the bonus handling.
The trick looks like this... The magi looks through the deck and removes the two red Jacks. He tells the spectator that these are to be his 'marker cards'. He gives the Jacks to the spectator.
The magi begins to lay cards from the top of the deck face down onto the table. He asks the spectator to say 'stop' at any point. When the spectator says 'stop', the magi asks the spectator to lay one of the Jacks, face up, on top of the last card layed on the table. The Jack should be outjogged so it will be visible through the remainder of the effect.
The magi places the remainder of the cards in his hand onto the stack on the table and picks the entire deck up as one. Again, he deals cards face down onto the table until the spectator says 'stop'. The second Jack is placed on top of this stack, face up, just as he placed the first one. Now, the magi drops the remainder of the deck on top of this stack and again picks up all the cards.
After a little patter, the magi spreads the cards and removes the two face-up Jacks and the two cards ABOVE each of these Jacks. Reminding the spectator that he stopped only where the spectator told him to stop, he then turns over the two face-down cards to reveal that they are the two Black Jacks.
The Secret? Begin the effect with one of the two Black Jacks on the top of the deck and the other on the bottom. That's all you have to do... really. If you follow the handling as I described it above, the effect is self-working. Try it and see.
If you have a deck of blank cards, add the four Jacks to the blank deck and follow the directions. Look through the deck for the two red Jacks, which you've randomly stuck in the deck beforehand. Of course, don't let the spectator see the face of the deck as you look for the Jacks. Once you reveal that the Jacks match, you can spread the deck and show ALL the remaining cards blank.