How To Force A Playing Card
This video shows two easy but effective ways to make sure a spectator picks the playing card you, the magician, want them to pick. Two ideal methods for the novice magician.
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Step 1:
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Meet professional Peter Jest:
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Hi. Peter Jest here. Now especially for all you novice magicians out there, I'm going to show you two easy ways to force a card onto a spectator by simply getting them to select the card that you want them to select. Many card tricks do require you to be able to do this, and I'm going to show you two easy ways.
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Step 2:
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Forcing a card:
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There are many, many different ways of making sure a spectator ends up with the card that you want them to, and what's important, of course, is that it looks fair and that they feel they really did have a free and random choice. We know different. But some of the methods can be very hard to do, involved. And some of them just don't look right - they go on too long. Here are two nice, straight foward ways to make sure the spectator gets the card you want.
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Step 3:
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The ace of spades:
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In this case, we want to make sure they get the ace of spades. So all you have to do with this method is to make sure that the ace of spades is sitting on top of the pack. You can hold the cards, or you can get the spectator to hold the cards. And you just ask them to cut a small packet of cards off the top and turn them upside down, like so. And then, as if sort of an afterthought, you say, "Just to randomize it even more, I tell you what. You cut again, but cut a little bit deeper into the pack this time." Which they do. And ask them to turn that face up to mark the place they cut at. Now you can run through the cards like this to show them that they're all different and that they could have cut to any of these cards. But, of course, you then give them the card that they cut to. This looks very fair. Needless to say, they end up with the ace of spades.
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Step 4:
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How it works:
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Now, there's nothing tricky about this. This is one of those sort of things that just works. So, try it for yourself, okay? You just make sure the card you want them to select is sitting on top of the deck. Nice thing about this method is that you can do this with a borrowed deck of cards, and just get the card you want on the top, you know, in any way that happens to come along. They cut a small packet off, turn it upside down. Now, remember, you get them to cut again as if you're making it as randomized as possible. Always worth coming up with excuses as to why you're asking them to do things. So that's a good excuse, "Let's make it even more random." So they cut again, but a little bit deeper into the pack. Turn it over. You run through these, showing that they're all different and they could have had any one of these. That's the excuse for running through the cards like this, so they can see they could have had any of these, but they took that one. Surprise, surprise - it's the ace of spades. Looks very fair, and it's easy to do.
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Step 5:
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A variation:
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Now there is a variation on this which involves the use of a double backer. Now any magic dealers that sell packs of cards, especially Bicycle poker-size cards like these, there are also available lots of gimmicked cards. And this is just one of many, and it's known as a double backer. Got the back of the card there and the back of the card there. This is a very useful card to have. You can do all sorts of miracles with this, but I'm going to show you how you can use one of these to force a selected card, in a similar manner to the previous method.
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Step 6:
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Preparation:
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In this case, beforehand, you need to place your force card on top of the deck, face up. Place the double back card on top of that. Keep them nice and squared. And you can either get someone to cut the pack or you can riffle down the side and ask them and ask them to say, "Stop." Like this - "Stop!" And you simply turn the cards over like that to mark the place they stopped at. In this case, you only do it the once. Becuase you can now run through with the same excuse of, "Look. You could have had any one of these, and they're all different, but you cut to that one." Yes, you've guessed it. It's our force card, the ace of spades. This card here is the double backer. Once again, it basically just works itself.
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Step 7:
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One more time:
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I'll show you one more time. The card you want the person to select - face up on top of the deck; the double backer goes on top to hide it. Get the spectator to cut the pack anywhere they like, of course, and just turn it over to mark the place they cut at. That's the excuse you have. You run through these cards to show they're all different and that they could have had any one of these, which seems quite fair. And in some sort of way, it's true as well. And the first face down card that they come to is obviously the one they cut to, and it will be the card you want them to have.
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Step 8:
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Sneaky techniques
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Your double backer is sitting here. Depending on the card trick you're doing, if the cards stay face down, you can leave it there because it can't be noticed. But if you need to get rid of it, the easiest way is when everyone's looking at this, you can cut, put the cards back together, leaving the double backer on top, and then I'm sure you could think up all sorts of ways that you could just dump that card. While people are looking at this, you've got all the time in the world, you know, just to palm it out or just drop your hand to the side, put it in a pocket. It doesn't necessarily have to use any fancy sleight of hand to get rid of this card. But as I say, if the deck is staying face down throughout the rest of the trick, just leave it there.
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Step 9:
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Thanks for watching
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So, there you have it. There's two methods for you novice magicians to try so that you can get on with those card tricks that require you to force a card. I really do hope that's been some help to you, and thank you for watching.