by Gregg Webb
This is fun the way JUMPING GEMINI by Darwin Ortiz is fun. A lot happens with just a small packet in the hands and there is a big ending!
Effect: The four Aces are removed from a normal deck, and the rest of the deck is put in a pocket. It isn't needed.
It is announced that the "lesser" Aces are jealous of how fancy the Ace of Spades is, and therefore, the other Aces like to impersonate the Ace of Spades. All four aces are shown to look just like the ace of spades.
The magician explains that in a poker game, five cards make up a hand. Spreading the packet face down and a fifth card is seen to have appeared. Not showing this card's face, the magician says,
"This fifth card...the SEVEN OF HEARTS also likes to impersonate the Ace of Spades.
The card is shown to also now look just like the Ace of Spades.
Counting and showing five Aces of Spades, the magician continues, "If you are caught with FIVE ACES OF SPADES in a game, you are in big trouble, so what I do is to convince the Ace of Clubs to impersonate the Ten of Spades." A ten of spades is shown.
"Then I get the Ace of Hearts to impersonate the Jack of Spades." A jack of spades is shown. "Next, I get the Ace of Diamonds to impersonate the Queen of Spades." A queen of Spades is displayed, "and the Seven of Hearts to impersonate the King of Spades". A king of spades is shown.
And with the addition of the enviable Ace of Spades, played by himself, we have a Royal
66 Flush, the hand that can't be beat."
AND, YOU ARE CLEAN.
History: I created this sequence for myself years ago, with different patter. I remember showing it to Shigeo Futagawa at the time and that he was puzzled when the fifth card appeared.
Then I forgot it but lately came across it in my notes but decided to improve the patter.
While the moves have existed, and similar routines exist, I’m sure, it is the exact sequence and the patter that makes for a trick that has the right chemistry to qualify as something you'd really do for people.
Set-up: Remove the ten through the Ace of Spades, and the three other Aces. Lightly bridge the 10 of Spades concave and in the lenghtwise direction. Put the 10-King of Spades cards face down on the deck proper, with the 10 of Spades on top. Note: this won't be used to pick up a certain amount off the deck in any way, but for later in the trick.
Put the Aces face up on top of deck.
The Ace of Spades should be the lowermost of the face up aces.
Performance: With deck in left dealing position, spread over at least 8 cards. The Aces will be seen face up, followed by the face down deck. I'll give the complete patter at the end. For now we'll concentrate on learning the trick's mechanics.
As you square the cards, get a left pinkie break under the top 8 cards. Pick up the packet of 8 by the right hand using Biddle Grip. The audience should think you just have the Aces.
We are going to show the Aces one-by-one, and in the process we will unload three aces back onto the deck, keeping the Ace of Spades and the rest of the Royal Flush cards in play. In many tricks we are told to use a move called ATFUS (Anytime Face Up Switch) but instead I favor using J. K. Hartman's SECRET SUBTRACTION, which is the exact opposite of an old famous move called the (Fred) Braue Secret Addition. We'll use the secret subtraction move three times in a row. ATFUS removes the three at one time, but I feel the J. K. Hartman used the way I'll teach is more consistent.
Use the left thumb to peel the first ace off the packet and onto the deck. Use the right hand's packet to lever the ace face down and then push it under the right hand packet but keep a ball of thumb break with right thumb between this face down ace and rest of packet. Now you can raise right hand to flash the ace to the viewers.
Next, as you go to peel the next ace, you unload the "broken" ace onto the deck and then peel the next ace and proceed to do all the above actions again. Flip ace face down and
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push it under packet, keeping a break. Raise right hand to show it.
Repeat the above, unloading the third ace onto deck. At this point the Ace of Spades is face up on a face-down packet that only contains the royal flush. Peel the Ace of Spades, but you don't have to unload anything. Turn it face down and push it under packet.
Pocket the deck in a left pocket. We're done with it.
SHOWING FOUR ACES OF SPADES
The sequence to come is Larry Jennings' handling of an Ed Marlo concept and the use of the longitudinal bridge to help with the "pinkie pulldown" technique is my innovation.
First off, we want to move the 10 of Spades with the slight crimp to the bottom of the packet, just below the Ace, from the top. I get a break under the top card, the 10, and double undercut it to bottom.
We're ready. Pull down the crimped card with left pinkie so you can turn a block of four, squared as if only one card, over face up onto the one card remaining face down in left mechanic's grip or "dealing position". Turn the quadruple face down with the same technique. Take the top single card between right thumb and first finger as if this is the card they were just shown.
Repeat the pulldown technique to allow your right fingers to turn over a "triple" as one, again showing the Ace. The card in your right hand, which mustn't flash, won't hamper this action much. You'll get it with a bit of practice.
Turn the triple face down onto "packet" and take the top card as if it were another Ace under the card in right hand, making a fan of two cards.
Now, even though you hold two cards with your right thumb and first finger, you must use your other fingers to turn over a double, squared, face up on the left's packet. The Ace shows again.
Using the same "pulldown" technique always, turn the double face down on the packet and push over only the top card and take it under the two in the right hand, making a fan of three. The two in the left hand must stay squared as if one card.
This double is placed on top of the right hand's card and all is squared. Turn up the top single card and show a "fourth" Ace.
Turn it face down. We owe a great deal to the memory of the late great Larry Jennings for this beautiful sequence.
Now I double undercut the top face down card to the bottom.
SHOWING FIVE ACES
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The next sequence, to show supposedly 5 Aces is the work of Bro. John Hamman, and is called the Flustration Count. First we must make the fifth card appear. Up until now we've been careful to keep the fifth card squared and hidden. Now simply spread out five face down cards and take the lower one with your left hand and hold it towards yourself and here you'll be miscalling it as the seven of hearts, then saying it too likes to impersonate the Ace of Spades. Then show it to the audience as the Ace. Put this card face down under the other cards in your right hand and square.
For the Flustration Count take the packet in Biddle Grip with the right hand and rotate it so the Ace at the face can be seen by the audience. Return the packet to a face down position and peel the top card into the left hand. Now just repeat this four more times.
In between each "peel" into the left hand there is a flash to the audience of the Ace of Spades at the face of the packet. The move has a discrepancy in that the card they are shown and the card peeled are not the same. Yet, when done at the right tempo (briskly) an optical illusion occurs, especially to non-magicians, and it looks like 5 Aces of Spades or whatever card you may use in other tricks. The Flustration Count is a utility move that is time- honored and a standard technique in card magic.
Now all you have to do is reveal the changes to the Royal Flush one card at a time.
FULL PATTER
"I once got all four aces in a poker game. I want to tell you what happened. I didn't realize that the Ace of Clubs, the Ace of Diamonds, the Ace of Hearts especially, are jealous of how fancy the Ace of Spades is...so they like to impersonate the Ace of Spades.
"When I looked at my hand again, there were one, two, three and four Aces of Spades.
"In a poker game you get five cards...so when I got my fifth card...the Seven of Hearts, it too wanted to impersonate the Ace of Spades.
"When I looked at my hand again there were one, two, three, four, and five Aces of Spades.
"IF YOU GET CAUGHT WITH FIVE ACES OF SPADES IN YOUR HAND IN A GAME, THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING!
"So I convinced the Ace of Clubs to impersonate a different card, the TEN OF SPADES.
Then I convinced the Ace of Hearts to impersonate the Jack of Spades. I talked the Ace of Diamonds into changing to the Queen of Spades, and the Seven of Hearts into looking like the King of Spades instead.
"And, with the original enviable Ace of Spades himself, we have a Royal Flush in Spades...the hand that can't be beat!"
THE AFTERBURNER
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You'll have to practice and rehearse this to get the patter to "GO" with the moves. The moves aren't hard, especially if you use the longitudinal bow on the bottom card of packet to make pulling one card only down for each block turnover of the Diminishing Lifts (turnovers) Sequence.
If you like to write patter, you might want to try a story line about identity theft!
- fin - Gregg Webb Bayside, NY
70 Issue 2, 2020
Yes … I still have left-over newsletters from the “old days”. Wow.
This uses everything from the previous trick except you don't need the silk. You will need some other props, easy to get. One consideration is that your shim coin must be a head side with date.
Effect: Show a coin, a piece of paper, a business card, a book and a pen.
Write the digits of the date on the coin in a column on the paper, then total it. A 1983 coin's digits, added, would yield 21. Pick up the book, put the coin on the front cover of the book and cover it with the business card. With a pass of your hand, the coin vanishes and appears down in the book - at PAGE @!!!
Required: Palm magnet. Shimmed or magnetic quarter. Dupe quarter with matching date. Book. Business card. Paper. Pen.
Performance: Full patter: "The date on this coin is 1983. If I total the digits, I get "21". I learned this from a Russian gypsy. If I cover the coin with this business card, and pass my shadow on it...the coin disappears and then reappears at...page 21."
Details: When ready to make your pass - the left fingers hold the business card at spot
"X", to keep card from moving. The coin is attracted to the palm magnet in right palm from the start, and as you move hand away, the coin is dragged along under card until it clears card and jumps onto palm magnet. Reveal the vanish with the left hand picking up card. By now the right hand has picked up pen (like a wand, it gives the right hand a
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less suspicious nature to be holding something), and point with it to the total on the paper and then pocket pen and magnet and shim coin AS YOU ALREADY ARE OPENING THE BOOK's COVER WITH YOUR LEFT HAND. As the right hand emerges free from pocket ditch, it also helps find the coin that is the dupe that was secreted in the book at page 21 from the start.
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