How to Do Amazing Card Tricks

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: July 1, 2021 References

Card tricks can range from beginner tricks to professional grade tricks. Everyone has to start somewhere. These tricks are directed more for the amateur magician and may not help the more advanced magician. Remember not to let anyone notice how you do the trick.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Bringing the Chosen Card to the Top

1
Prepare your deck. Hold a normal deck of cards in your hands. Keep one or two jokers in the deck. Show the deck to the audience and let them see you shuffle it.^{[1]
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2
Sneak a peak. It is essential that your audience doesn’t notice you peep at the bottom card. You’ll need to memorize the bottom card. Act casual and show them the top of the deck while you look at the bottom.^{[2]
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3
Engage the audience. Ask an audience member to pick a card. Once they have the card ask them to memorize it and place it on top.
- Insist that they don’t let you see the card, but tell them to show others if they want.^{[3]
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4
Cut the deck in half. Place the bottom half on top of the card placed on top. This puts the card you memorized directly on top of their card. You can do as many cuts as you want, as long as they are single cuts.
5
Look through the cards. Pretend to look for jokers and take them out, but also find the card you memorized. Their card is resting directly on top of it. Cut the deck again so that their card is on top.
- Cutting the deck a second time may take a few trials and errors before doing it seamlessly.^{[4]
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6
Finish the trick. Have them pick a number between ten and twenty. Deal that many cards off the top of the deck. Take that amount of cards and hold them between your thumb and pointer, have them slap the cards and the one farthest to the left should be their card.
- Make sure you hold that one tightly so that it doesn't fall out.^{[5]
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- Adding the card slap and additional shuffling adds to the showmanship of the card trick. These additional steps also help distract the audience of how simple it really is.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Letting the Jokers Guide You

1
Prepare your deck. You will need a deck with two Jokers in it. Before the trick has begun, find both of the Jokers and place one on the top and one on the bottom of the deck. Now the trick is ready to be performed!^{[6]
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2
Engage the audience. Ask a member of the audience to pick a card anywhere in the deck. Once they pick a card have them memorize the card. Ask them to show others, but tell them not to show you. Have the audience member place the memorized card on the top of the deck.^{[7]
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3
Cut the deck. Fan the deck out and ask the participant to tell you when to stop. When they say stop, split the deck. From whatever part you stopped at, take the bottom half and place it on top of the deck. Now their card is between both Jokers.^{[8]
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4
Use the magic words. Ask the contestant to wave their hand over the deck and say "Jokers find my card." Now flip the cards over and fan the cards out. Their card should be right in between the Jokers.
- Pick up their card and ask if this is their card.^{[9]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Performing the Twin Towers

1
Prepare the deck. Separate all the black cards from the red cards into two separate piles. Now place one pile on top of the other to make a full deck. Do this before showing the trick to anyone.^{[10]
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2
Split the deck. In front of your audience, split the deck into two piles. Attempt to be casual and separate the piles by colors. One way you could do this is to have one of the cards poking out. This will indicate the halfway mark of the deck.^{[11]
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Let them choose a card. Have the audience member choose one of the piles. After selecting a pile, fan out the cards and have them select a card. Have them memorize the card and slip it into the other pile.^{[12]
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4
Shuffle the other pile. Spend some time shuffling the pile of cards that they put the card in. You want to show them that you are being thorough. Don’t worry about losing the card because it will be the only card of a different color.^{[13]
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5
Look through the cards. Now quickly skim through the cards without the spectator seeing. It is crucial that the audience doesn’t see that you rigged the deck. Select the card that stands out in color and proclaim a magic phrase like “Shazam.”^{[14]
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Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Jumping the Jack

1
Gather your hand. For this trick you will need to cut one of your cards in half. Do this with a trick deck you don't plan to use for card games. Take out four cards: three jacks of any suit and a number card (4 of hearts or 7 of diamonds).^{[15]
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2
Prepare the number card. Use a pair of scissors to cut the numerical card in half so that the top and bottom of the card are still clear. Then use tape to join the ends of the severed card together. Don't tape in front of the inside of the card.
- Your card should now be able to be folded without tape showing.^{[16]
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3
Mask one of the jacks. Fold the numerical card on top of one of the jacks. Hold the cards so that the masked jack is in the middle of the other jacks. When showing the hand to people it should look like a numerical card in between jacks.^{[17]
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4
Set up the trick. Once you have the prepared cards in your hand, you're ready to try it on someone. First show your audience the "three" cards. Make some type of line about how one card is being sandwiched between two jacks. You want to get them thinking about the two jacks in your hand.^{[18]
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5
Make the jack "jump." Now you're ready to finalize the trick. Turn the cards over so they are face down and pull them onto a surface starting with the bottom card. The masked jack will look like any old face down card. It is important to grip and conceal the sleeve card. Have someone from the audience flip the cards over.
- When finished successfully, the audience will see three jacks.
- Practice concealing the "mask" and work on preforming this trick quickly. The faster you can do the trick, the more convincing your act is.^{[19]
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Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Pulling Cards from the Air

1
Understand the trick. This is a simple trick that requires much practice and control of the cards to be successful. You are not really pulling cards out of thin air, but you are making it look like it. The whole time you are "pulling cards from the air," you are really holding them in your palm.^{[20]
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2
Palm your cards. Take a small stack of cards out of a larger deck. Choose an amount of cards that you feel comfortable holding concealed. Use a mirror to see how concealed the cards appear to the audience.^{[21]
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3
Practice the move. This trick relies on your thumb controlling a card to appear from thin air. Grip the edge of the deck with your fingers and use your thumb move the top card. Continue moving the top card with your thumb until it is in the audiences view. The card will be held in place by your thumb and forefinger. This will take a lot of practice.
- After trying the move a few times, you should understand how many cards to hold in your hand.^{[22]
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4
Perform the trick. You should only showcase this trick after extensive practice. This is a simple technique that is very difficult to preform seamlessly. Once you understand the rhythm for the trick you can produce card after card out of "thin air."
- To better convince your audience, rotate your hand as you shift the card out with your thumb.
- Again, do not bring this trick out to the public if you aren't ready.^{[23]
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Community Q&A

Question

How do I hold the cards in my hand?

Community Answer

An effective way to hold the cards would be to spread them out neatly (like a fan) and put them between your thumb and index finger.
Question

Does anyone know tricks that work themselves?

Voidslayer

Community Answer

Try this one: Have the deck and make the bottom card flipped. Fan the cards but keep the bottom part in your hand so they won’t choose one of those cards. When they pick a card ask them to look at it and memorise the card, while flipping the deck secretively. If you need more time ask them if they’re sure if they remember it. Now take the card and run it up and down and ask them to say stop. When they say stop you can put the card in the reversed deck (it should be reversed as you flipped it but the audience doesn’t know as you have a turned card at the top.) Then fan out the cards (start from the other side so they won’t see the other card) and fan it. Their card is flipped.
Question

In method one, what if they pick the bottom card?

Community Answer

You could tell them to pick any card towards the middle of the deck. That might make it easier.

Warnings

If you perform a card trick more than once to the same person, it is possible that the viewer will discover your secret!

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