Suit You, Sir!

The performer shuffles an ordinary deck and hands it to a spectator to cut several times, then the top few cards are each taken
by 3 or more spectators. Each card is peeked at by its owner and not to be shown to anyone before being pocketed. The
performer asks each participant to concentrate on the suit of their particular card. With no questions asked of the spectators,
the performer correctly names each persons card!

Method:

The deck is stacked and once the cards are passed out the spectators unwittingly give you the relevant information through a
form of binary code.

Here is the stack:

7C 6C JC 6H 5H 10H QS 2S 7S 5D 9D 10D QC

8C 5S AS 7H 3H AD 2D KS 6S KC 10C KD 7D

9H KH 2C 3D JS 4H 9C 4S 8D QH AC JH QD

9S 5C 4D 2H 10S 3C AH 8S JD 3S 6D 4C 8H

This shows the 7C on the top of the deck and the 8H on the face. You would either have this stack written on a prompter hidden
in a notepad or have an extra deck stacked in the above order.

Introduce the deck and false shuffle it casually. Ask someone to assist you with proceedings. Have them take the deck and give
it a few cuts, the performers back can be turned throughout the card cutting and selection process. After they are satisfied you
cannot know the top card, have someone peek at it and then place it in their pocket. This person then passes the deck to the
next person along. This is dependant on how many persons you would like to involve, let us use a minimum of 3 in this
example.

Each person pockets the top card of the deck then passes it to the next person in line. The performer needs to make sure he is
aware of the definite order of the spectators the deck was passed to. If they are seated it is easy to do this by instructing the
person holding the deck to pass it to the person to their left or right. Or if in a more formal environment have then lined-up and
pass the deck along a row.

Number each spectator in your mind, with the person who receives the first card numbered as position 1, and each subsequent
person handed a card as position 2, position 3 and so on. After they are done have them hide or box the deck. With that the
performer turns back to his guests.

The performer asks each spectator to concentrate on their card and explains he is having difficulty because reading multiple
minds at once is confusing, especially when they are concentrating on similar thoughts. Explain that the suits are too similar for
you to see them distinctively. You may say that the red cards come to the mind more vividly therefore you ask whoever is
thinking of a card of the Heart suit to please close their eyes and concentrate on the image of their card. You now note which
spectators, if any, close their eyes. Remember or note down which positions have closed their eyes and are thinking of Heart
cards.

You then repeat this process with the black cards, stating these are very difficult, ask anybody who is thinking of a black card to
please stand. Lastly you say that youre having trouble with the black cards as they are less vivid, particularly the clubs so could
those thinking of a Club card also close their eyes and concentrate on their card. This would now provide you with the relevant
information to consult the above stacked sequence and identify each persons card by the sequence of suits. The persons who
stood up but didnt close their eyes on the call of clubs are thinking of spades. Obviously those who did not react to any of the
questions are thinking of a Diamond card. If you are performing to standing guests, you can ask them to step forward instead of
standing up, or even to sit down in order to concentrate. Any form of either/or signalling through body-language would work,
raising their hands to their head or sticking out their tongue - anything which communicates the binary signal to you. The
important thing is to use something that fits YOUR presentational style.
You would now recall the number for the spectators - depending on which way the deck was handed out. Numbering them 1, 2,
3, etc, you consult your prompter. If you use more spectators than this you still only have to pay attention to any three
consecutive spectators that took cards from the deck in order, the rest of the people will be thinking of the cards before or after
these in sequence.

I would only recommend using a maximum of 3 - 5 volunteers for this effect. Once you learn the suit of 3 adjacent spectators
you need not call any more suits, so the maximum number of suits you would have to call will only ever be 3. You will
sometimes only need to call a minimum of 1 suit in order to ascertain the card each spectator holds. For example if we called
the Heart suit first, and three adjacent spectators closed their eyes, you would consult your prompter and see the 4H 3H 8H
group is the only group that fits this criteria. So upon consulting your prompter you can work out the cards of the people who
did not react to the first call from looking ahead or behind in your stack from this point. Or you might call for the Heart suit,
spectator 1 and 2 close their eyes, on the call for the people thinking of Black cards to stand, spectator 3 does not stand up
signalling Diamonds - you would consult the prompter for the grouping of Heart Heart Diamond, referencing 7H 3H AD as the
correct sequence. Or after your call for them to concentrate on Hearts, and then Black cards, and noone has closed their eyes
or stood up, you would know they are all thinking of Diamonds - looking at the prompter - 3D 7D 8D must be the group they are
thinking of.

Let us assume you were using 5 spectators, the spectators in positions 3 and 5 closed their eyes on the mention of the Heart
suit. You would only need to know spectator 4s suit in order to know everyones card. So you could address this one person
instead of the group from this point on - depending on how you wish to present things. You could then name the other
spectators cards without further instructions. For example spectator 4 could be then be asked to stand if he was thinking of a
black card. If he fails to do so, you know his card is diamond, but let us say he does stand for this example. You then ask him to
close his eyes and concentrate if he was thinking of a Club card, let us say he does so. You would then remember the sequence
Heart Club Heart, upon consulting your prompter for the stack sequence. You will notice the only group that fits this sequence
is - QH AC JH. You now know Spectator 3 is thinking of the QH, Spectator 4 the AC , and Spectator 5 the JH . This automatically
means spectator 1 is thinking of the 4S, and spectator 2 the 8D. Dont forget the deck wraps around, so if you dont spot the
correct sequence it may be at the end of the deck cycling around to the beginning.

If you dont want to use a prompter, having another deck stacked in the same sequence is an easier method. Once you have
committed the code of the spectators suits to memory, you would pick up your other deck and spread through to take out the
first spectators thought-of card. You would now only have to find the relevant 3 card sequence in the deck as you spread
through. Tell the first spectator youre going to have to commit yourself to one card, then remove this card with its back out.
While removing the card you commit the other cards in the group to memory. After revealing Spectator 1s card, you can now
reveal the other cards verbally, or any other surprising way you see fit.

Another angle is to spread through the deck and memorise the group, saying youre going to commit yourself to Spectator 1s
card, then as an afterthought, close up the deck explaining youd rather do this mind to mind. Now you have noted the card
values it is a simple matter to name each persons card and have them sit down to a round of applause.

Note:

This entire effect is a simpler variation on an effect concocted by the diabolical mind of Leo Boudreau in his book `Spirited
Pasteboards.

Colouriffic
A ordinary deck of cards is shuffled by the performer, who hands it out to 3 spectators to cut to their hearts content. The
performer turns his back and once they are satisfied the performer cannot know the position of any card, they each take one
from the top of the deck. Each card is peeked at by a spectator then placed in their pocket. The performer then turns back to the
group, with no questions asked of the spectators regarding their cards, the performer manages to name them!

This effect is similar to the above in that it uses a binary coding, this time through the colour sequence of the cards, coupled
with a one-way backed deck. This means a deck where the back design looks different depending on whether the card is
pointing up or down. These kinds of decks are very common and can be purchased from gift shops and souvenir stores, there
will usually be a deck like this gathering dust in the drawer of someone's house. You would then attribute the card pointing one
direction as 1 and the opposite direction as 0. One way backs are not totally necessary, for instance I use Bicycle brand cards,
which tend to be cut so the white border is larger at one end than the other. Simply by comparing the thickness of the top or
bottom border you are able to give the card a binary property of 1 or 0. We will call the thick border being at the top of the card
position 1, and the thick border at the bottom being position 0. I learned this clever technique from Max Maven's The Hawk, an
impossible card location on his Video Mind series. I also noticed a one-way feature on Tally-Ho cards after examining one very
carefully.

On the left you can see the top border on this Bicycle card is noticeably thicker than the one at the bottom. On the right is a
Tally-Ho brand card, this has a very subtle one-way back that is almost impossible to spot. If you examine the the top section
you will see two intersecting lines which entrap 7 circles of differing size. The largest circle is in the middle, but the smaller
circle directly to the right of this is touching the line beneath it, but at the bottom this same circle is not touching the line and
you can observe a noticeable gap.

With this in mind the deck is stacked not only on the faces, but also with the cards backs in either 1 or 0 orientation.

The deck is stacked in the following order with 4C at the top and KD at the face:

0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

4C AS 9S 10D 4S 6H 9D AH 6S 5C 2S 4H 8C

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

5D 2H 8D 7C 3S JS 3H 7S QD 8H AD KS 6C

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

10C JD 5S 3D QH 7H 3C JC 10S 9H QC 10H 2D

1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

KH 8S AC QS 4D 2C JH 6D 5H KC 9C 7D KD

The rows with the numbers is the stacking of the card orientations, the other rows indicate the card identities. Each group of 4
adjacent cards is unique due to its colour sequence coupled with the orientation of the fourth card in the group. There are
multiple sequences that repeat, however the placement of the picture card in these groups can enable you to differentiate
between them. The deck can now be handed out and cut by the spectators, the performer must ensure he is aware of the
orientation of the deck throughout this process. If the deck is turned 180 degrees at any point by a spectator, you must ensure
you convert the 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 in your mind.

Turn around and ask for the deck to be cut as many times as they may wish and for each of the three spectators to then take a
card in turn from the top of the deck, ask them to peek at it before hiding in their pocket. Once this is done you may turn
around again, sight the orientation of the top card of the deck and remember it or note it down on a pad. You can then ask for
the deck to be put away, or have it left there if you wish not to draw attention to it. You would now begin the mind-reading
process by telling the three spectators that mind-reading is difficult but the more bright and vivid the thought the easier it is to
see. Suggest that the people thinking of red cards are easier to pick up signals from, but the people thinking of black cards
should concentrate on the image of their card very strongly by closing their eyes and drawing the picture of the card in their
mind. You would now note which spectators close their eyes. If any spectators did not close their eyes they are obviously
thinking of red cards, so no response also indicates the red card sequence. You would then say you are having trouble with one
particular person, you mention they might be thinking of a Court card, which is a far more complicated image and difficult to
transmit. You ask if anybody is thinking of a Court card to please step forward so you can direct your entire concentration onto
their thoughts. If someone steps forward, this codes the final piece of information you need to name all their cards. If nobody
does step forward, dismiss this as a mixed thought you were picking up and carry on regardless as this outcome codes the
relevant information also.

You would now combine the sequence of the spectators who closed their eyes with the position of the spectator who stepped
forward. Firstly, you would remember for example that Spectator 3 was the only one to close his eyes on the mention of black
cards, but Spectator 1 and 2 did not. However on the call of Court cards, Spectator 2 stepped forward, you would now
remember the code as Red/Red/Black. You would also add to this the position of the Court card, and Orientation of the top
card of the deck, giving you the total code Red/Red Court/Black/0, on the prompter this will be written out as R R B 0. The R
and B represent the red and black cards respectively, an underlined R or B represent a Court card, and the 1 and 0 are the
card orientations..

Upon consulting the prompter you would find that the only group that fits this property is R R B 0 = 7D KD 4C.

Here is the prompter:

B B B 1 = 4C AS 9S B R R 1 = 4S 6H 9D R R B 1 = 9D AH AS B R B 1 = 9S 10D 4S
B B B 0 = 6S 5C 2S B R R 0 = 8C 5D 2H R R B 0 = 2H 8D 7C B R B 0 = 2S 4H 8C
B B B 1 = KS 6C 10C B R R 1 = QC 10H 2D R R B 1 = QH 7H 3C B R B 1 = JS 3H 7S
B B B 1 = 3C JC 10S B R R 1 = 7S QD 8H R R B 1 = 2D KH 8S B R B 0 = QS 4D 2C
B B B 1 = 7C 3S JS B R R 0 = 2C JH 6D R R B 0 = 7D KD 4C B R B 1 = 10C JD 5S
B B B 0 = 8S AC QS B R R 1 = 5S 3D QH R R B 1 = 8H AD KS B R B 1 = 1OS 9H QC
B R R 0 = 9C 7D KD R R B 0 = 6D 5H KC

B B R 1 = AS 9S 10D R R R 1 = 6H 9D AH R B R 1 = 10D 4S 6H R B B 1 = AH 6S 5C
B B R 0 = 5C 2S 4H R R R 0 = 5D 2H 8D R B R 0 = 4H 8C 5D R B B 0 = 8D 7C 3S
B B R 1 = JC 10S 9H R R R 1 = QD 8H AD R B R 1 = JD 5S 3D R B B 1 = KH 8S AC
B B R 0 = KC 9C 7D R R R 0 = JH 6D 5H R B R 1 = 9H QC 10H R B B 0 = KD 4C AS
B B R 1 = 3S JS 3H R R R 1 = 3D QH 7H R B R 1 = 3H 7S QD R B B 1 = AD KS 6C
B B R 0 = AC QS 4D R R R 1 = 10H 2D KH R B R 0 = 4D 2C JH R B B 0 = 5H KC 9C
B B R 1 = 6C 10C JD R B B 1 = 7H 3C JC

You should write down or print the prompter list and hide it in a notebook or tape it to the back of a card or card case for easy
reference. For example you could have an extra deck in order to extract the correct cards for each spectator and have the
prompter list stuck to a joker on the face of the deck. This would make it very natural for you to take a look at the prompting list
under heat, you would pick up the deck and observe the list before you spread through and remove the correct card for one of
the spectators. If someone has stepped forward thinking of a court card then remove this card first, reveal other two
spectators cards as an afterthought either by naming them or removing them from the deck also.

Note:

This effect is a variation on an effect by Leo Boudreau in his book 'Spirited Pasteboards', however in Leo's version 6 cards
needed to be taken by 6 spectators in order to transmit the code. In turn his effect was a variation on Coluria by Charles T.
Jordan, an ingenious early binary card coding system far ahead of its time.

Dr. Rhines Delight

This effect takes the form of a test conditions demonstration of psychic phenomenon. A perfectly ordinary deck is fairly
shuffled by a spectator, he keeps hold of the deck throughout the experiment. The performer attempts to divine the identity of
each card before it is turned over, managing to achieve success to a degree far in advance of mere chance. The deck is fully
examinable and has no markings or any other gaffs.

Method:

This is a very simple effect that will seem incredible if it is presented with an air of seriousness. The fairness of handling will
help elevate this from a magic trick to something much more special. The deck is stacked in any memorised order, or cyclical
sequence such as `Si Stebbins or Eight Kings. It is only the ability to tell which card precedes or proceeds a known card that
we are concerned with. The deck can be borrowed but obviously must be stacked prior to the effect, a good method to quickly
arrange a new deck in `Si Stebbins order through a series of faro shuffles is printed in At The Card Table by Darwin Ortiz, `Si
Stebbins Secret, p. 137. Though this must be done in secret, a mentalist displaying card skills would be very suspicious. We will
assume the deck is stacked in Si Stebbins order for the sake of this explanation. It is probably best to use new cards for this
effect as they are more slick and therefore more likely to fall in large groups during a shuffle, but old cards are perfectly
adequate. The Si Stebbins stack rotates in suit order, Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds, with the values ascending by 3 each
time.

The deck is introduced and the performer casually shuffles it, use your strongest false shuffle in order to allay the notion of an
ordered deck. If you can perform any false shuffle resembling an overhand shuffle, this is perfect. A very simple way is to just
pull off a block into the left hand and throw the remaining right hand cards on top, doing this in quick successions resembles an
overhand shuffle to the untrained eye when it is in fact only cutting the cards. This was good enough for Chan Canasta so it
should also be for you! Place the deck on the table and ask: Kenny, could you please pick up the deck and give it a shuffle?,
mime an overhand shuffle action as you say this. This should prevent any card-savvy spectator from doing any fancy
riffle-shuffling and cutting.

As they begin to shuffle the deck try to completely remain uninterested in the process and turn away slightly from the person
shuffling but try to keep an eye on their progress. Mention you would like to show the people assembled something quite
extraordinary. As the person is nearing the bottom of the deck during their shuffle, tap the table and say And could you please
place the deck down here for Debbie to cut? Since you are saying this as they are reaching the end of their shuffle, they are
more inclined to place the deck on the table as soon as they reach the last few cards, rather than commencing another
overhand shuffle sequence. It does not matter too much if they do begin another shuffle, even for a third time, but the less the
deck is shuffled the better your demonstration will go. The fact that you ask them to place the deck down for another spectator
to cut cements the notion they should quickly finish as it would be rude to keep the other spectator waiting.

To most people the deck should seem to be totally mixed up, but in fact the overhand shuffle is a very inefficient form of
randomisation. There still should be many groups of cards still in your ordered sequence. After Debbie has completed her cut,
the subject of psychic phenomena is introduced. The performer begins to talk about early experiments in parapsychology in
which a deck would be shuffled and a sitter would attempt to identify each card. It is important psychologically to only
introduce the subject matter AFTER the deck has been shuffled, otherwise the person shuffling the cards may have spent a lot
longer mixing the deck in order to be `thorough. The most messy part of an overhand shuffle is around the middle of the deck,
and since we are having Debbie cut the deck, she will most likely cut around the middle and into this section.

Tell the spectators you have practiced a technique for over 3 years of staring at the backs of cards and trying to ascertain their
identity. Explain that this is extremely difficult and often you can only discern a vague image of the card. The most important
part of the technique is to never guess at what the card is, but to keep your mind totally open and just let the image come from
somewhere. The brain always tries to presume an outcome and this is the most difficult thing to suppress when attempting
an experiment like this, but say you will try your best. Begin to stare at the top card of the deck for 10 seconds or so, then
take a total guess as to the identity of the card. I think its best to remain vague at this point and to just say I think the top card
is a red 6, could you please turn it over? Chance says it will most likely be a number card, so picking a medium range number is
the best bet, we have the duality of 9 and 6 to play with also, the colour is 50/50 really. Whatever the identity of the card,
have the spectator deal it face up to separate spot. Let us say you were incorrect and the card was the 10 of Clubs. Dont
feign annoyance or excitement should you be wrong or right, try not to display any emotion and maintain an air of
concentration throughout the demonstration. You should give the impression of an almost trance-like state of calmness, to aid
the reading of the cards.

Since the first card dealt was the 10 of Clubs, we now only have to name the next card in the stacked sequence as your next
guess. In our case it would be the King of Hearts, it is probably more dramatic if you remain vague about the cards at this point
I think the next card is.. A picture card, maybe a King. Turn it over please? This card is very likely to be the next card in the
sequence thanks to the flaws of the overhand shuffle technique, if it is correct have the card placed over in another pile of its
own. So now explain to the spectator to have correctly called cards placed in the correct pile, and incorrect cards placed in the
incorrect pile. Keep going in this manner throughout the deck, it is up to you how accurate you want to be with your
divinations, I think it best to vary the preciseness of your guesses throughout the trick if only to add some drama. But you can
obviously just name each card exactly should you so wish.

With this method you will often only get around 25% of cards incorrect, this is why its good to remain vague sometimes. Once
you have an incorrect card, just run through your stack order using the incorrect card as a new starting point. For example we
last called the King of Hearts and had it placed to the correct pile. In our sequence the 3 of Spades should be the next card, but
lets say the 5 of Diamonds is turned over instead, have it placed in the incorrect pile and begin again from the 5 of Diamonds -
therefore our next guess is the 8 of Clubs. Occasionally you will notice the incorrect cards are actually previous to cards in
your sequence, this is where the spectator has shuffled single card runs during their overhand shuffle. So we only need to run
through our stack backwards in these cases until the sequence returns to its normal order again. If the Jack of Spades is turned
over, you guess the next card as the Ace of Diamonds, but it turns out to be the 8 of Hearts. You know that the 8 of Hearts is the
card BEFORE the Jack of Spades, therefore you go back yet another card in your sequence as your next guess - the 5 of Clubs.

The two piles of correct and incorrect cards enable you to keep track of cards that have already been dealt and allows you to
assess what is likely to come up next. At some points you will turn up an incorrect card and notice the card before it and after it
in the stack have already been dealt. In these instances I just take a guess at a card that is around the same portion of the stack
but has not been dealt yet. You will be surprised how often you can get a direct hit from an educated guess like this, by the time
you get through three quarters of the deck, you should uncannily recall what cards have been dealt from memory and by order
of elimination just guess at what the next card may be, with some success.

Do not be dissuaded by the simplicity of this routine, it can be extremely powerful, remaining vague in parts as not being 100%
successful on every card is what elevates this from simply being just a magic trick into something much more powerful.
Magicians tend to keep a tight reign on the deck and rarely allow spectators to touch it, I think a mentalist should try to stress
the appearance of freedom to proceedings, especially with the gimmicky notion of cards. This is an important factor for
mentalism of this type, the performer should pay little attention to the cards and should focus his attention on the people
helping. Once you relinquish control of something, it completely loses its air of mystery and becomes mundane. When the deck
is given to someone to shuffle they should completely forget about the notion of any stacks or special order for the cards,
which is the first avenue their mind would have gone down in looking for a methodology.

After getting the initial few cards correct, I have had people tell me I must have added extra cards to the top of the deck after
their initial shuffle, but as you get further down into the deck this notion becomes redundant. After getting 20 or so cards
correct their mind will usually begin to wonder towards marked cards, I sometimes ask them to cover the back of the deck with
their hand, or beer mat or wallet and I will still tell them what the cards will be. People of certain types of disposition will not
immediately try to explain away the method through markings or stacks and will simply find the demonstration fascinating in
itself. This is why you can get away with long pauses between cards and use your acting skills, maybe even getting the
spectators involved in the process. Instructing them in your technique and trying to guide their answers to match the next card
in your sequence. It is up to you how to play with things, but I would recommend this is used as a last thing of the night
effect to leave their minds whirring. One subtlety is if you notice any distinctive marks on the edges of certain cards, and can
spot these during the dealing process you can claim, the Queen of Clubs is about 5 cards down and have them deal to it.

Note:
The inspiration for the presentation of this effect came from the exploits of Kenny Thompson and Debbie Christie, who purport
to achieve the same effect via supernatural means. Kenny and Debbie are both students of the Ramtha new-age philosophy
movement and claim to have practiced staring at the backs of cards for years until they were able to see the face of the card
with some clarity. Their attempts were inspired by Roald Dahls `The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is claimed to be
based on the true story of Kuda Bux, an Indian fakir. The gasps of audiences at the demonstrations Debbie has given certainly
show how such a simple thing can conjure sheer wonderment in people. Though the jury is still out on whether they achieve their
demonstrations through trickery or some other more esoteric means.

Impossible Divination
The performer hands a spectator an ordinary deck of cards, he is instructed to shuffle the deck then give it a cut. He is then to
look at the top card and then hide it in his pocket. This takes place while the performers back is turned, or has left the room
entirely. When the performer returns the deck is returned to its case and put away. The name of the card is now divined, and the
card produced from the spectators pocket is seen to be correct.
Method:

This is very similar in method to the previous item. The deck is again stacked in memorised order or cyclical sequence. We will
assume Si Stebbins is used. Even a thorough overhand shuffle will leave many patches of cards in order, and this is what we will
take advantage of. The spectator is instructed to shuffle the deck and then give it a cut. He looks at the new top card of the
deck and hides it in his pocket.

All the performer has to do on his return is to peek the bottom card of the deck and run forward one card in his memorised
stack to identify the missing card. There are many easy methods to do this while handling the deck, but I prefer to not handle
the deck at all. You can achieve this in one way by using a marked deck, in this case the deck is left on the table and you read
the marks to judge the identity of the pocketed card by running back one card in the stack.
The most deceptive method would probably be to utilise a gimmicked card case which allows peeking. If the spectator is
instructed to case the deck face down into the box and the box is kept in the same orientation this would enable you to peek
the card index as the case is pocketed. Of course the spectator could change the orientation of the box while casing the deck
which is a large risk. This can be avoided by using a deck which is marked on the top right and bottom left diagonal corners, so
whichever way they orientate the deck or the box you can ascertain the box. Obviously if you are peeking at the marks on the
back of the top card you would work out which card came before it in the stack instead.

You can avoid all gimmicking of the box and card with this simple method however. Offering the card box for them to case the
deck, simply extend the left hand and ask them to put the cards away, keeping hold of the box. If they return the cards with the
deck face up, then your peek has been an easy one, let go of the box for them to close it up. However, if they return the deck
face down, keep hold of the box until the deck is most of the way in. Twist your wrist to have the flap side towards the floor,
this enables you to see the index of the face card, I then continue this movement by bringing my right hand over to close the
flap.

A more deceptive method is this however, if the deck is cased but you allow yourself to close the tab of the card case. If a
spectator closes the tab on their own volition you can always just state you are checking it is closed tight. You then insert the
tab below the top or bottom card of the deck, depending on which way the deck is orientated. This can be done totally
deceptively in full view of someone, once the case is closed you have all the time in the world for your peek. You simply
orientate the case so the tab side is pointing downwards in your hand, and under cover of the hand use the other hands thumb
or forefinger to drag the card out slightly in order to peek the index before pushing it back into the box. You can make this
easier for yourself by trimming the half-moon tab opening slightly to enable this action. The tab side would either be orientated
nearest the palm or furthest from the palm depending on which way the deck was placed inside. Nearest the palm if the tab is
placed under a face down card, furthest from the palm if the tab goes under the face card of the deck. This situation can be
peeked as you are closing the tab under the card at the beginning.

The peek being done, all you have to do now is act! You are divining a thought, the card in their pocket is merely there to verify
this was indeed the card the spectator thought of, and is produced as an afterthought. I divine the identity of the card in stages,
first the colour, then suit and finally value. So if we viewed the King of Diamonds as being the face card of the deck upon
inserting it into the box, in the Si Stebbins set-up, the card in the spectators pocket should be the 3 of Clubs. You can dress this
up in whatever manner you desire however, mind-reading, reading body-language or asking them to lie about their card and
using tells.

There is a very small chance this effect may fail, depending on the spectators shuffle, but I stress that there is very little chance
of this. In our example the spectator may agree that the card they are thinking of is black, but not a Club, therefore I would go
back one card from the face card of the deck as my guess - the 10 of Spades. If you are at all worried about this aspect, and I
dont think you should be - you can return the deck to the card case yourself, and in the process glimpse the face card and the
top card of the deck. The pocketed card is almost guaranteed to be the card that follows the face card in the stack, or card
before the top card of the deck. Though I think this compromises the clean appearance of the effect, I think anybody
attempting to perform clean mentalist should be fully prepared to accept things going wrong some of the time, and in fact,
encourage it!

As A Prediction:
If you have an invisible deck, this is a very good presentation for the previous effect. Have the spectator shuffle your stacked
deck and look at the top card, then bury is face up in the deck. Have them then turn the deck face up as you grab your invisible
deck, the moment you glimpse their face card you can continue dumping out the Invisible Deck the appropriate side facing up
and begin to spread. As you reveal your face down prediction card ask them to also spread to the card they previously inserted
face down also. You then recap what has taken place and reveal your face down prediction card. They then remove their face
down card showing a match! This is a very impossible yet straightforward and visually appealing variation.

Crash Course in Mind-reading

This time a normal deck is shuffled and then cut by two spectators. Each spectator now takes a card and peeks at it before
hiding in their pockets. The deck is now cased and hidden away, all this while the performers back is turned or is out of the
room. The mentalist returns to explains about the difficulties of mind-reading, where the predilections of the mind constantly
cloud the thought process when trying to vision an unknown, when one falls foul of these predilections one is simply guessing
and not knowing. The mentalist then asks if one of the spectators would like to try to read the others mind, one person
volunteers. Coaching this person through the process the mentalist congratulates or consoles the person on their success or
failure. The mentalist then attempts to show those present what real mind-reading is like and proceeds to name the coached
spectators card exactly!

Method:

Again, the methodology of this effect is shared by the previous effects, though the performer does not have to see any cards
throughout this routine. Following the steps outlined in the effect description, spectator 1 should end up with the card
following spectator 2s card in your stack. You can have the deck boxed or hidden on your return as the spectators will give you
the information you need. Run through your spiel about the difficulties of mind-reading, then ask one to volunteer to try
reading the mind of the other. Run them through the mind reading process with any mumbo-jumbo you care to concoct. Ask
them to visualise the card in parts, first the colour, then the suit, and finally the value. As the person attempts to guess other
spectators card, encourage spectator 2 to answer her guesses. Each guess, correct or not, reveals to you what card they
themselves hold.

The conversation might go as follows:

Spectator 1: I think the card is red?

Spectator 2: No. (You now know Spectator 1s card is red)

Mentalist: Dont worry, try and concentrate on the suit instead, just try and visualise the shape, is it
a Club or a Spade?

Spectator 1: Its a Spade.

Spectator 2: Yes! (Spectator 1s card is Diamond)

Mentalist: Well done, just try and focus your mind, is the card a number card or picture card?

Spectator 1: I think its a number card.

Spectator 2: It is!

Mentalist: Great, now try to zero in on the number, try and count the pips on the card in your head,
do you see anything?

Spectator 1: I think its a five.

Mentalist: Is he right?

Spectator 2: Close, it was a four. (You now know Spectator 1 has the 7 of Diamonds)

Mentalist: Ah, really well done there, youll be putting me out of a job!

Be sure to remember which spectator took the first card and which took the second so as to know whether you need to run
forward or backward in your stack at this point. Congratulate the spectator if they get anywhere close with their guesses, or if
they are not so successful use this as an opportunity to show how difficult mind-reading is, and what guessing actually looks
like. You can then turn to the coached spectator and in a confident manner announce with no ambiguity what card it is they are
merely thinking of.

I think this effect is very strong, the fact that the cards do not have to be handled by the performer at any point elevate it a
great deal. The spectators should forget that a deck of cards was even involved. I often dont have people pocket the cards,
instead they simply lose them into the deck before boxing it and putting it away, further making them seem immaterial to the
actual mind reading going on. Though if performing this for an audience, it would seem appropriate to have cards pocketed in
order to be produced at the climax to confirm your divination as correct.