Was There Now It's Here

Effect: You trick the person into believing that the card you gave him (or her) is a different card.

Card Trick:

Show a deck of 52 cards (not trick cards) and ask someone to verify that it is not a trick deck. Fan the cards and ask a person (who won't mess it up) to take a card and show it to everyone but you. Put the card second from the bottom of the deck, making sure that nobody can see the bottom card, and shuffle the cards. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SHUFFLE THE LAST TWO CARDS! Then ask the person if the bottom card is her card. Naturally she will say no. Act like "Oops, I messed it up." While you are saying or acting that, slide the bottom card toward you a little bit so that you can grab the card above it, and say "You're sure that that was not your card?" She will say yes. Then say, "OK, hold out your hand flat, palm up," and hand her her card face down. Tell her to place her other hand on top of it tightly so that the card doesn't fall. There are two ways of finishing this trick.

Finish Number 1: Tell the person to hold her hands out in front of you, and while she is doing that, quickly slip the bottom card (the one that is supposed to be in her hands) to the top of the deck. Say "OK, now that you have that card in your hands [showing her the bottom of the deck], I'm going to shuffle these cards." While you are shuffling, keep the top card on top! When you finish shuffling, take the top card and give it a little rub (face down) on the person's hand and say something like "Your card has now appeared in your hands." Then show her that the card she thought she was holding is now in your hand.

Finish Number 2: This is a little bit harder because it's embarrassing if you mess it up. It's a bit like Finish 1 except that you spin a card. Slip the bottom card to the top, and keep the tip of your little finger under it. Remove any other card from your deck and lay it face up on top of the deck. Then pick up both cards, pretending that they are one, put down the rest of the pack, and hold the two cards together with your second finger at 11:00 o'clock and your thumb at 5:00. (Your hand is above the cards.) With your right hand beneath the cards, take hold of the other two corners so that your thumb is at 1:00 and your second finger is at 7:00. With your right hand, bend the corners down a little. Bend the card back and forth a couple of times, and when you feel ready to make their heart skip a beat flip the cards over fast. Now they see that the card that is supposed to be in their hands is actually in yours.

My right hand is the trickster. When I'm bending the cards, I pull a bit downward which makes the cards spin so that it looks like it just magically appeared!