Principle · Apprentice
The Short Card
One card trimmed a hair short becomes a built-in locator.
Definition
A short card is trimmed slightly shorter than the rest of the pack. When you riffle the ends, the pack naturally breaks at the short card — an automatic key and cut-point.
Why it fools people
Your fingers find the short card by feel, so you can cut to it, force the card above it, or locate a selection placed beside it, all while the pack looks and shuffles normally.
What it lets you do
- Reliable forces
- Instant cuts to a key
- Locations without a glimpse
Beginner drills
Riffle to the break
Riffle the end of the pack and let it stop at the short card. Cut there cleanly and casually. Repeat until your thumb finds it every time.
Success: You cut to the short card without looking, ten for ten.
Common mistakes
- Trimming too much, making the short card visible.
- Riffling so slowly it looks deliberate.
Tricks that use The Short Card
Thought Spelling
Three people merely think of cards from small fans, yet each thought-of card is spelled out and found.
Another Thought Spelling
A spectator thinks of a card from a small packet and later spells it out, finding it automatically.
Frank Squires' Speller
A chosen card finds itself as the spectator answers simple questions about it, letter by letter.
Lazybones
Two spectators each lose a card, then one finds the other's card reversed in the deck and spells straight to its match.
Think of a Card
A spectator merely thinks of one card in a long row, then spells its name to find it himself.
The Sympathetic Pair-No. 2
Two named cards are lost in a shuffled deck, yet they mysteriously find each other and end up side by side.
The Haley Reversed Card
A freely chosen card is buried in the shuffled deck, yet moments later it is found completely turned over among all the others.
A Pre-Arranged Pack Of Cards
A spectator removes a card from a freely riffle-shuffled deck, and you instantly name it.
Cutting The Pack With A Knife
A knife is pushed blindly into a riffled deck, and the card it stops at proves to be the very one chosen.