You ask that the entire group choose a person to use for the task/experiment. Whomever is chosen will be asked to call anyone, anywhere in the world. A cell phone or even a home phone may be used as long as you have speaker phone. (pretty much all cell phones do these days)
Lets say they choose a hot chick named Mary. Mary uses her cell phone and calls her friend Lisa. (alternately you don’t have to use a cell phone but Mary herself may perform the test. MUCH better with the cell phone.)
You ask Mary if she would be so kind as to put Lisa on speaker so you could talk with her as well…and so that the audience might hear.
You talk on the phone with Mary’s friend Lisa and ask her a question or two for laughs. You then tell her what the game is. Lisa is going to try and pick up on some thoughts and subtle verbal cues that you will try and send her.
You ask her if she is excited to play. Then ask her if she has won a lot of money playing cards. She says she hasn’t had much luck playing cards, “join the club” you say.
“We aren’t going to do anything difficult. You won’t have to do any thinking really. Its not like we are going to bust out a game of black Jack….i’d like you to just relax and clear your mind. As I count backwards from ten just relax and let your mind go black…..”
Good.
Mary is approached and asked to hold the cards.
“Lisa as you sit there relaxed hundreds of miles away Mary here is going to start dealing through the deck. Mary go ahead and start dealing now…… Lisa whenever you get a feeling please just say stop…..and Mary will then stop dealing.”
If there is too long of a pause I’ll say “…sometime today Lisa…”, which will get a chuckle but speed her up as well.
Mary stops dealing and you isolate the stopped at card putting all the other cards to the side and making a big deal about how she could have stopped anywhere.
You then ask Lisa if she picked up on any of the signs you threw her over the phone. You tell her that you cued her to the fact that it was black.
Do you remember me making certain statements like
“Make your mind completely BLACK”, “Join the CLUB” or “Black JACK”.
In so many ways I more or less told you what the card was. But whats REALLY impressive is there is no way, other than pure intuition, that you could have known WHERE the card was….
Reveal she stopped at the Jack and then…
Reveal your giant prediction.
Method
Most of the effect is the presentation which should be obvious. Simply follow the script as written using the subtle verbal cues like “Black Jack” and “join the club” etc.
Just roll with it. If she says she hasn’t had luck at cards say “join the club”. If she says she HAS had great luck I say “you’ve got great luck…..then would you like to win a million dollars?”, and then of course she will say “yes” to which you reply “um….yeah…who wouldn’t….join the club!”. This is said sort of playfully and not too harsh. It should get a chuckle but more importantly you’ve given your verbal cue.
The force is easy and will fly by as long as you present it well. Its the genius of Father Cyprian. Simply place the jack of clubs along with two indifferent cards reversed on the bottom of the deck. From the top down it will be 49 face down cards, face up indifferent card, another face up indifferent card, and finally the face up jack of clubs on the very bottom.
The only thing you have to worry about is when you hand her the deck make sure you don’t flash the bottom. Also help her orient the cards right if need be. It may help to ask if someone is a card player, or better yet use a volunteer you now can handle cards from a previous effect.
So now the deck has been in her hand face down and she is dealing. Little does Mary know there are three cards reversed on the bottom of the deck. The bottom card being the force card (jack of clubs) and the other two are indifferent cards that are simply there for extra cover when you deal off the force card
I wouldn’t really call this a move but here it is…
When the spectator stops dealing you immediately take the deck from their PALM UP DEALING HAND with your PALM DOWN DEALING HAND. In this action you reverse the deck.
It is an easy matter to do this while you are talking on the phone with your right hand. Or vise versa if your left handed. (alternately you can just set the phone on the table or have someone else hold it etc.)
In the natural action of taking the deck with your left hand palm down and turning your hand over into dealing position the deck will be reversed and you can cleanly and slowly deal off the force card. From the top down you know have face down jack of clubs, two face down indifferent cards, and the rest of the deck all face up.
I usually deal the card off to the side, or into their free hand, but tell them to KEEP IT FACE DOWN AND DO NOT TAKE THEIR EYES OFF OF IT!!!
To cover this subtle reverse of the deck I will usually say “Lisa I have no idea if you got it right but Mary looks very excited!!!” This will usually get a big laugh if Mary is sort of just politely standing/sitting there. If she DOES look very excited then all the better.
Immediately after I have dealt the card I turn all the dealt cards on the table face up just to point out they are all different.
The rest is all build up for the final revelation. You can really get three moments of impact with this effect.
The subtle revelation of the verbal cues. They will start to freak out when they realize you really did say those things.
Then the actual revelation of the selected card…
And finally the jumbo card prediction! (You can just draw a jumbo card on a piece of paper or board. Or if you want to reveal it, in a turkey, game hen, duck, loaf of bread, pumpkin pie etc. this makes it strong and memorable)
Clean Up
To clean up I haphazardly toss the deck onto the face up mess of cards. The two extra reversed cards will just coalesce with the others and all the evidence is gone without a trace.
History
There are dozens of effects that use a reversed card on the bottom as a force or FACED DECK as its now popular to call it. I believe credit should go to Al Baker and his great cutting force. This is an extension from very old force often done with a handkerchief over the deck. The real subtle use that Father Cyprian created takes it a step further. Interested students will do well to look up the original Baker Force and later Eugene Burger’s handling. I would also highly recommend you seek out Father Cyprian’s routine and anything else he put out.
Check out Father Cyprian’s Solid Gold Prediction from Elegant Magic of Father Cyprian by Frank Garcia
Pocket Transpo
To perform a deceptive transposition you must have either a very deceptive switch or some sort of duplicate in place. Or both! Ken Krenzel in his book “Ingenuities” published an effect called ‘Pocket Passport’, a very strong copper/silver transposition with coins. It is a great coin transpo where you use the spectator's pocket to do the dirty work. In the coin effect you hand the spectator, what he thinks are, a copper and a silver coin to place in his pocket, but in reality (because of a switch) he is putting two copper coins in his pocket. A very interesting and unique idea. He still used the duplicate to accomplish the transposition. But rather than doing it in the hands, he actually has the spectator put the coins in their own pocket. THEY reach in their pocket and choose the coin that they'd like to pull out. In reality both the coins are the same! I love this idea. I think it's a great dodge. And very deceptive.
The seven of spades and the six of hearts can be used. One black and one red. For this effect you will be using pseudo-duplicates . You'll need to have mates of the seven of spades and six of hearts. These cards will mask as duplicates. The mates of the seven of spades and six of hearts would be the seven of clubs and six of diamonds.
It's important to never refer to the suits of the cards so they will not be important or remembered. Just the values and colors are important. Talk about how the 6 and the 7 are easy to remember because they add up to 13...My lucky number. ;)
Start out with one red six face up on bottom and one black seven already in your pocket. The other black seven and red six are on top of the facedown deck.
Take the two cards off the top and display the six and the seven face up very openly showing just two cards. Turn both cards facedown making sure seven is on bottom. Now shove them into your pocket above the face down seven that is already there. Then withdraw your hand from your pocket and relax a moment.
You explain that in the moment you are going to give them two cards and they are to place them in their pocket. You are merely showing the spectator what you want them to do.
You know apparently reach back into your pocket and pull out the two cards, only you pull out both black sevens (the two bottom cards of the three) and leave the six there! Make sure you keep the cards face down.
"Take these two cards and put them in your pocket just like I did."
At this point you hand him both cards face down. Instruct him to place both cards in his pocket. Now that the cards are safely in his pocket you can remind him what the cards are. A seven and a six. They add up to 13 remember?
Tell him to reach in and pull out ONE card only, leaving one in the pocket. Eventually he'll hand you a card and that card will be a black seven. Turn it face up and say something like "oh it's the seven so that means you have the six."
I simply place the seven on top of the deck FACE DOWN and then give it a complete cut centralizing the face up six that was on bottom. I now snap my fingers and then spread the deck showing the six face up. Have them pull the seven out of their pocket to end the transposition.
There is still a six left in your pocket. You can use this to repeat the effect for your next group.
Tip: When you initially place the cards in your pocket shove the top six a little further down into your pocket so it lands lying horizontally. That way the two black sevens will remain sitting in your pocket vertically and will be easier to withdraw quickly a moment later.
Another Tip: When you hand the spectator the two cards face down if you are afraid that the spectator might turn the cards over prematurely, or might try and look at them before he puts them in his pocket. Or maybe you just have
a spectator that is just way too "grabby”....there is an alternative handling.
After the switch is made and you are holding the two sevens in your hand face down simply shove the cards in their pocket for them. Don't even give them the chance to touch the cards!! Just put the cards in their pocket. If you are doing this with someone who has an outer pocket on their shirt it is much less invasive. Or a man's outer pocket on his jacket. Try to avoid putting your hands in a woman's pocket if you're a guy. That's creepy. Unless of course you ask permission and they say yes.
Basic concept of using "pseudo-duplicates" or the mate of the card to mask is a duplicate was first published in New Era Card Magic by August Roterberg.
I recently discovered that Darwin Ortiz has also created a card version of the Krenzel effect in Darwin’s book Scams and Fantasies. The major advantage of the version you just read is that it is self working, yet you don’t lose any of the strength of the effect. Which is cool.