Double-Deal Card To Pocket

DOUBLE-DEAL CARD TO POCKET
In this routine a selected card is placed among the four Queens. It vanishes and then reappears in your
pocket. There's good news and bad news. The good news is that there's no palming required. The bad news
is that palming is easy compared to the audacity and courage needed to pull this off.
To perform, spread through the deck and openly toss the four Queens onto the table in a pile Remove
the Queens in such an order that the red Queens are in the first and fourth positions, sandwiching the black
Queens. They should also be spread somewhat so the audience can clearly see that the four Queens are the
only cards on the table.
Ribbon spread the deck face up and have a card selected. Slide the card out of the spread and drop it on
the face of the Queen packet. Square the deck and turn it face down into left-hand dealing position. Say,
"The Queens are going to make your card dísappear."
Square the Queen packet and pick it up in Biddle Grip in your right hand. Execute The Double-Deal
Switch, apparently peeling the selection off the face of the packet and flipping it face down onto the top of
the deck. In reality you have peeled off a double card and flipped it face down. (The sleight is extremely easy
to do in this case because the packet is so thin.) Your left hand immediately moves forward and thumbs off
the top card onto the table as you say, "Let's put your card here." You are actual1y placing one of the
Queens onto the table. The selected card is still on top of the deck.
Bring your hands together and do an Elmsley Count to show four Queens. The red Queen will show
twice, though this will go unnoticed. More importantly, the count is done while your left hand holds the
deck. This is accomplished by pushing the deck inward a bit with your left first finger, and then grasping the
packet's left long side between your left thumb and first finger (fig.l). In this position you will be able to do
the Elmsley Count between the fingertips of both hands.
After the count turn the Queen packet face down and drop it onto the supposed selection on the table.
Say, "Let's just use the Queens and your card." Without making a big deal out of it, and without mentioning
it, your right hand takes the deck and calmly and casual1y slips it into the inner left breast pocket of your
Shirt or jacket. The spectators will be paying little, if any, attention to the deck at this time since they believe
al1 the cards which interest them to be on the table - and that's where they'll be looking. If you also look
there while pocketing the deck then no one will be any the wiser.
Pick up the face-down packet and count the four cards as five. Treat only the first card as if you are
beginning an Elmsley Count. That is, it's taken by your left hand and stolen back beneath the packet as the
second (single) card is taken. This is easy to do, and by counting the first card twice (as the first and fifth
cards) the audience will assume you do, indeed, have the four Queens and the selected card. Make a magical gesture,
then stud deal the cards face up to the table one at a time to reveal just the four
Queens. Show your hands empty, then cleanly reach into the pocket containing the deck and bring out only
the selected card (which is easy enough to locate since it's on top of the deck).
If, for some reason, you do not believe that this works, then how can you be convinced? There's only one way,
because for many of you it is not enough to say that Bro. John has done this many times over the years for laymen
and has always had a terrific response. You have to go out and try it yourself.
This is an opportune moment to introduce you to a devious psychological principle of Bro. John's that accounts, in
many cases, for the startling effectiveness of his magic. This principle is the basis for numerous routines in this
book.
This trick is successful because of what you do not say You do not say, "Your card will vanish from the Queens and
appear in my pocket." If you say that, everyone will observe quite clearly as you place the deck into your pocket.
When you later pull the card out of your pocket there will be no mystery.
This routine is successful because of what you do not claim. You make no claim, at any time, that the card will
travel to your pocket. You never mention the word "pocket" and you never allude to the fact that its flight to your
pocket is supposed to be a magical effect. You claim nothing. You merely display the four Queens to reveal that the
card has vanished - you can mention that if you feel the need to speak. Now you simply reach into your pocket and
remove it. The thought which comes to the spectator's mind is "How on earth did my card get from those Queens
into his pocket?" Even though this person will have seen you place the deck into the same pocket, it does not register
at this point.
The surprise of the card's reappearance camouflages this person's own observations from himself. That's right, he is
fooling himself. His mind is tripping over its own surprise, and a few observations he made during the routine are
forgotten. AlI this happens because you did not make a verbal claim about what was going to happen - you left it
completely to the spectator to deal with what he saw.
Put in a less attractive manner, magicians have a tendency to blabber nervously throughout a trick. Silence can be
extremely dramatic, but it takes a skilled performer to do that. Most magicians just jabber and they say too much
much too much. Every word you say limits what the spectator will think about what he sees. If you say nothing, his
thoughts are limited only by his imagination - and that's far more powerful than any measly trick you can do. Bro.
Hamman has discovered that if you say less about what you're doing, me spectator will be forced to think more.
The more he thinks, the greater his self-deception will be. Even though he saw you put the deck in your pocket he
will wonder how his card got there. If this sounds implausible then you have merely to go out and try it. Let me
mention another benefit of not making claims in your patter. Of course there will be some people who will not be
the least bit surprised when you take the card out of your pocket. These "straight line thinkers will be amazed that
the card vanished from the Queen packet but will assume that it remained in the deck, and will expect you to take it
out of your pocket. Because you have made no claim about making the card magically fly to your pocket. this
person will fail to realize that he has not been fooled. For him the trick consists only of the card vanishing. For many
others also watching, however, the effect of the card coming from the pocket will be staggering. By not saying in
advance that the card will come from the pocket you are accommodating both views from the audience. Some
people see the trick, others do and neither group understands that the other sees something eIse. !t's true: each
spectator is in his own little world, and all each knows is what he happens to be thinking at that moment! His
neighbor's thoughts may be entirely different even though they are both watching the same trick. Because you say so
little each feels his own thoughts conform to what he sees, and what he thinks is going on.
This is known as the Rashomon theory - twelve people witness a murder and each one gives a different;: account of
what he saw. They all, in truth, saw the same thing. Each one, however, interprets the same facts differently.
Magicians never give laymen the chance to do that because they say too much. Bro. john say's less, makes fewer
claims, leads people to fewer conclusions verbally. He lets them imagine magical things happen because he doesn't
say anything to the contrary. Bringing the card out of the same pocket in which you've placed the deck is only a
minor example of this principle in action. The ingenuity with which Bro. Hamman applies this principle takes your
breath away.

Double-Deal Card To Pocket

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