A collection of my favourite easy to learn tricks. Most tricks are mainly misdirection and showmanship. The three important tips are 1.Never get flustered, everything is part of your act. 2. Practice makes perfect. 3.Showmanship makes a performance, so be confident in what you can do. I would recommend performing these in front of a mirror before showing an audience as some tricks involve hiding cards behind others which may be seen if held incorrectly also make sure you practise every trick before showing it so you know what you are doing, you don’t want to have to refer to the instructions. Sleight of hand, known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly. Sleight of hand is not a separate branch of magic, rather one of the means used by a magician to produce an effect. Advanced sleight of hand requires months or years of practice before it can be performed proficiently in front of spectators. Sleight of hand is mostly employed in closeup magic, but it can also be used in stage magic. There are hundreds of different sleights at the performer's disposal, but they can generally be classified into groups such as switches, changes, and others. This guide hopes to teach you enough to trick your friends and family. But be careful, with great power comes great responsibility... 1.Take out a deck of cards and ask the spectator to shuffle it . 2.Then ask him to name any two cards (just the name of the card, without the suit). After the spectator names two cards, you put your hand on the deck of cards, and concentrate on it. 3. Then ask the spectator to turn over the deck of cards and fan through it. Astonishingly, the cards that he named are right next to each other. Pro tip/explanation.-This trick works by probability. When the spectator names two cards (remember to tell him not to name the suit), let's say Ace and Ten, he is really naming four cards of each kind since the suit is not specified. The theory is that out of those eight cards (Ace of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ten of Spades, Ten of Hearts, Ten of Clubs, Ten of Diamonds), at least one of the Aces in the deck will be next to one of the Tens. The trick works 90% of the time ;If it fails simply tell the spectator that you are not concentrating hard enough. When you repeat the trick, it will work. You can never find a trick that's easier than this one! 1.Offer a fanned out pack of cards face down to a spectator like so. 2.Ask them to pick a card at random. 3.Cut the deck and have them replace the card. As you do this tilt the top of the deck so you can see the face of the card above the now replaced card, remember it and close the deck. 4.Very lightly shuffle the deck, just so that the card appears lost. Use an overhand technique for this. 5.Turn the cards over, fan the deck face up and look for the card from when you tilted the deck, the spectators card will be the one in front of the card you remembered. -PRO TIP- For added validity you can have someone shuffle the deck before you fan it, this will prove you do not have a ‘system’ or that the cards are stacked. 1.Holding the deck vertical and arrange the first 4 cards like so, making sure there is a secret card behind the 3 shown cards. 2.Moving from right to left tap the three cards saying card 1,2, and 3.(but you will actually be holding cards 2,3,and 4; as card 1is the hidden card.) 3.Ask a spectator to choose a card and remember it, then to tell you it’s designated number. (1,2 or 3) 5.Now, if they chose card 1,move the top card to the bottom of the deck. If it was card 2, take the top 2 cards, and if 3,3cards. 4.When they have told the number bring the cards back into the deck (do not let them seen the secret card at the back) 6.Ask them to give the deck a big magic tap and if by magic their card is on top of the deck. PRO TIP- Some real showmanship can be added to this trick to spice it up, feel free to use your imagination with this: maybe the participant did not tap hard enough and needs to tap again, or, when you get really good, do the trick blindfolded. Little extras like this improve your performance and help to sell the act. 1.First hide the ace of diamonds, this can be in some ones pocket or under an object, just make sure it is well hidden! 2.Arrange the other aces like so. 3.Show the other aces to the audience making sure only the tip of the ace of hearts is showing, this will now look like the ace of diamonds. 5.Put the cards back into the deck and shuffle them, or get an audience member to do it. 7.Then ask someone to go to the hiding place of the ace of diamonds, surprise surprise, it’s magically appeared where you had hidden it! 4.Point out to the audience that you are holding the ace of clubs, diamonds and spades. Now say ‘ I will magically make the ace of diamonds disappear’ 6.Now ask an audience member to remove the ace of diamonds, low and behold it’s not there! PRO TIP.- Keep an extra ace of hearts handy in case someone gets wise to the trick and tries to ruin it for you, no-one likes to be upstaged and it will ruin it for the rest of your audience. 1.Ask an audience member to shuffle the deck. 3.Take the top two cards off the deck (you will need to practise doing this very fast so your trick seems convincing) the audience must not see the second card. This is called a double lift. 2.Say ‘I have a magic deck, when I tap it, the cards can float’ or something along these lines, you can also tap the deck and improvise a bit here, pretend hold the cards down or stop them floating away, this showman ship improves your performance. 4.Show the card to the audience and then replace them on top of the deck. 5.Remove the top card and place it into the middle of the deck. 6.Grip the deck tightly and ask someone to tap the deck so the shown card can ‘float’ to the top. 8.Show them the top card, and as if by magic it’s at the top again. 7.Ask them to tap again to stop the cards floating. PRO TIP-this works best with old and bent cards as the two cards that you lift stick together better. 1.Place the four jacks on top of the deck and then place three other cards, they can be any card, on top of the jacks.( Make sure that the jacks are fanned so they can be seen by spectators.) The other three cards on top should be hidden by the jacks. What you should see. 2.Display the deck from the front .The spectators should not see the three extra cards behind the jacks. Push the jacks into the deck. Spectators will think that the four jacks are on top of the deck, but in reality, the jacks are at positions four, five, six and seven in the deck. What the audience will see. 3.Take the top (non-jack) card and without showing it, place it in the lower half of the deck. 4.Take the second and third cards and without showing them, place them randomly into the 5.Show the top card to be middle of the deck. Do not push jack by simply turning it over. the cards in. Turn this jack over and leave it on top. 6.Turnover the top four cards to show Push the other cards (nonthat the jacks have "returned" to the jacks) into the deck. top. 1.Pull out five or six odd number cards. The cards should be all odd higher cards , say fives, sevens or nines, and you only want to use clubs, spades or hearts. 3.When you turn around and look away, ask a spectator to turn around one of the cards. 2.Odd numbered club, spade or heart cards have a center pip that points in a single direction. When you lay the cards on a table, you’ll need to align the center pips so that they face the same direction. 4. When you return to the table, you simply look for the card that displays a center pip that is upside down. PRO TIP-When you do this, don’t simply look at the cards and then tell the spectator. Be sure to hold your hand over each card as you look them over and act as if you are feeling vibrations or something. After concentrating a while, look the spectator in the eye and name the card. 1.Make sure all Tens, Jacks , Queens, and Kings have been removed from the deck. Aces count as one. 2.Have the person you are showing the trick to shuffle the cards. 3.Take the group of cards and spread out in a fan shape. Ask them to pick a card . Tell the person to remember it and to put it back in the deck. 5.Instruct them to look at another card in the deck, and to add its value to the total that they had computed before. They are to tell you the final total of everything. For instance, they chose a 5 card. 5(doubled) = 10 plus 5 = 15. Multiply by 5 = 75. They then choose a 3. Three added to total = 78. You subtract 25 = 53. They picked a Five and a Three. 4.Ask them to double the value of the card they picked, then to add 5. Now have them multiply that number by 5. Tell them to not forget this number. 6.In your head, subtract 25 from the total. The two digits you get are the same as the two cards they chose. Pro tip– you will want to practise this a few times to get the feel of it. 1.Start by putting one red queen on top of the face down deck and the other red queen at the bottom both face down. 2.Give the two black queens to a spectator. Start dealing cards off the top of the deck, laying them in a face down pile on the table, until the spectator tells you to stop. 3.Have the spectator put the first black queen, face up, onto the pile on the table (these are the cards you have just counted face down) Then drop the remainder of the deck in your hand face down onto the black queen (so the only card facing up is the black queen) 5.Now announce that without any help from you the spectator was able to find the black queens sisters. Simply go to the face up black queens, take them out, and the cards immediately above each will of course be the red queens. 4.Repeat the process above, having the spectator put in the other black queen, face up, and drop the remainder of the deck on top of the other black queen, again face down. Have the spectator cut the deck, and complete the cut. Pro tip-You can very easily put the two red queens in place while you find the black ones right under their noses. As long as you don't make a big deal out of it no one will suspect a thing. 1.Hand the cards to the spectator to be examined and mixed-up. 2.Have the spectator return the cards to you. As you take the cards and place the deck behind your back, secretly glimpse at the bottom card of the deck and remember it. 3.Turn around with your back to the spectator and ask him to cut the cards anywhere he wishes. Tell the spectator to look at the card that he cut to and show anybody else who is watching . 5.Ask the spectator to replace his part of the deck on top of your pile (still behind your back). 4.As the spectator looks at the card and shows it around, secretly take the bottom card that you've remembered and place it on top of the pile that remains in your hands. 6.Bring the deck out and run through the cards. Look for the card that you remembered. The card just after this card is the one that your spectator selected. Pro tip-When you’re glancing at the bottom card, casually show the deck to the other spectators and mention how there are different cards and that they have been thoroughly mixed. While this makes it look as if you're trying to be fair, it's a ruse that allows you to perform the necessary work to look at and remember the bottom card. 1.Beforehand, count down 14 cards in the deck and write down the name of the 14th card on the piece of paper. Fold the paper and place it in your pocket. 2.Hand the dice to a spectator and have them roll the dice a few times. Ask the spectator to add the numbers on the tops of the dice to those on the bottom of the dice. Ask the spectator to name the number. He should say "14." 3.Hand the deck of cards to the spectator and have him count to the 14th card. Ask them to turn the card over. Then ask them to show it to the audience. 4.Hand the spectator the folded piece of paper and ask them to read it. They'll find that the folded sheet of paper correctly predicts the card that they selected. Pro tip– Do not repeat this trick too many times with the same people as it will be quite obvious how it is done. 1.Beforehand, place the four aces on top of the pack. Don’t let the spectator know that the aces are in this position. For instructional purposes I'm going instruct as if the aces have gone to the far right, if they are placed differently adjust the instructions accordingly. 2.Ask the spectator to separate the deck by dropping cards off the bottom of the deck to create four piles. This way, the pile with the aces will end up at your extreme right or left, which makes the next steps more logical. 4.Then ask the spectator to deal one card from the top of the pile that he's holding onto each of the three other piles. With a second, non-ace pile, repeat the process of moving three cards to the bottom and dealing a single card on each of the other piles Repeat with the third (last) non-ace pile. Ask the spectator to turn over the top cards of each pile. When these cards are turned over, they’ll be aces. 3.Point to one of the non-ace piles and ask the spectator to pick it up and hold it in his hand. Ask him to take three cards off of the top and place them on the bottom of the pile. 5. Now ask the spectator to perform the same thing with the pile that has the aces. He’ll place the top three cards onto the bottom of the pile and then deal a card onto each of the other piles. Pro-tip-After the spectator is finished dealing the cards, pause for effect. At this point, you can review what he has done: cut the cards and dealt them, and emphasize that the cards are all mixed up.