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MIRACLES
WITH A STACKED DECK
For those of you still
wondering, a stacked deck is exactly that. A deck of cards that
is stacked in a pre-determined order so you know exactly where
the cards are. I know you are asking yourself all sorts of
questions at the moment but bear with me and all will become
clear.
There are many different
systems for stacking a deck but I'm going to explain what is
probably the most common. It's known as the 'Eight Kings' stack.
There are only two things
you need to remember. The first is CHaSeD. Notice the capital
letters? They stand for CLUBS, HEARTS, SPADES and DIAMONDS. This
will give you the order of the suits in the stack. In other
words, a CLUB will always be followed by a HEART and so
on.
The second thing you need to remember is
...
Eight Kings threatened to
save nine fair ladies for one sick knave.
This will give the order of the cards in
the run as ...
8-King-3-10-2-7-9-5-Queen-4-Ace-6-Jack(Knave)
So to stack the deck, start
by putting the 8 of Clubs face up on the table. Now put the King
of Hearts on top, followed by the 3 of Spades, 10 of Diamonds
and so on until all the cards have been used up. This deck can
be cut as often as you like and the order will not change as
long as the cut is just a plain, simple one. In fact, you can
stress this to the audience under the guise of wanting to make
everything as clear as possible!
A simple effect is to peek
at the bottom card after they have cut the deck a number of
times. The system will then tell you what the top card is. For
example, if the bottom card is the 7 of Hearts, the next card
must be a Spade (CHaSeD). The 7 is represented by the word
'save' in the key phrase and the next word is 'nine' so the top
card of the deck will be the 9 of Spades. It's up to you how to
reveal the card but go for an Oscar-winning performance and
you'll blow their minds!
If remembering all this is
too much like hard work, print out the following table and sneak
a look at it when you know what card is on the bottom of the
deck.
|
1 |
8-C |
|
14 |
8-H |
|
27 |
8-S |
|
40 |
8-D |
|
2 |
K-H |
|
15 |
K-S |
|
28 |
K-D |
|
41 |
K-C |
|
3 |
3-S |
|
16 |
3-D |
|
29 |
3-C |
|
42 |
3-H |
|
4 |
10-D |
|
17 |
10-C |
|
30 |
10-H |
|
43 |
10-S |
|
5 |
2-C |
|
18 |
2-H |
|
31 |
2-S |
|
44 |
2-D |
|
6 |
7-H |
|
19 |
7-S |
|
32 |
7-D |
|
45 |
7-C |
|
7 |
9-S |
|
20 |
9-D |
|
33 |
9-C |
|
46 |
9-H |
|
8 |
5-D |
|
21 |
5-C |
|
34 |
5-H |
|
47 |
5-S |
|
9 |
Q-C |
|
22 |
Q-H |
|
35 |
Q-S |
|
48 |
Q-D |
|
10 |
4-H |
|
23 |
4-S |
|
36 |
4-D |
|
49 |
4-C |
|
11 |
A-S |
|
24 |
A-D |
|
37 |
A-C |
|
50 |
A-H |
|
12 |
6-D |
|
25 |
6-C |
|
38 |
6-H |
|
51 |
6-S |
|
13 |
J-C |
|
26 |
J-H |
|
39 |
J-S |
|
52 |
J-D |
AFTERTHOUGHTS
Here are a few ideas to
help you reveal the chosen card :
1 - Write down the card
BEFORE they look at it
2 - Let them take the card
and then remove the 'sister card'. In the example above, the
chosen card was the 9 of Spades so you remove the 9 of Clubs and
show you have matched their card.
3 - Have another two or
three people take off cards after the first person has taken a
card. They will all be in sequence so don't go straight down the
line when revealing the cards because somebody might work out
the sequence. In other words, reveal the first person's card
then jump to the third or fourth person and so on.
THE BIGGEST SECRET OF
ALL
You are probably
wondering how to bring in a stacked deck without it being
obvious. Here is something that most magicians will never tell
you - switch it! Start with the stacked deck in your pocket and
have an identical deck in another pocket. Start by doing a trick
or two with the normal deck and then put it into the same pocket
as the stacked deck. While you hand is in your pocket, release
the normal deck and grab the stacked deck. As you are doing
this, say something like, "Let's try one more" and bring out the
stacked deck. Nobody will suspect you have switched the decks.
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