Principle · Apprentice
The Stripper (Tapered) Pack
A tapered pack you can strip and cut to chosen cards by touch.
Definition
A stripper (biseauté) pack is trimmed slightly narrower at one end. A card returned the other way around can be felt and stripped out of the pack, or cut to, by touch alone.
Why it fools people
The taper turns the whole pack into a sorting machine. Reverse a selection and the pack itself flags it, allowing locations, productions, and arrangements that feel like sleight-of-hand mastery.
What it lets you do
- Instant locations
- Sorting and arranging
- Cutting to selections
Beginner drills
Strip the reversed card
Have a card returned reversed end-for-end, square, then strip it out from the side. Make the action look like a simple squaring or cut.
Success: You produce the selection by feel, eyes up.
Common mistakes
- Returning the card the wrong way.
- Gripping so hard the taper becomes obvious.
Tricks that use The Stripper (Tapered) Pack
Self-Working Mystery
A freely chosen card is lost in the shuffled pack, yet a card the spectator picks blindly reveals its exact position.
The Turned Card
A reversed card is instantly located in a shuffled deck thanks to a quietly tapered pack of cards.
To Separate the Red Cards
A thoroughly shuffled deck is instantly split into all the red cards in one hand and all the blacks in the other.
The Four Ace Trick
Four aces lost in a shuffled deck vanish completely, only to be produced from the performer's pocket.
Finding a Card in Any Position
A freely chosen, shuffled-back card appears at any number the spectator requests.
Selected Cards Pass Through a Handkerchief
A chosen card melts straight through the deck and a covering handkerchief to land on the table below.
The Turned Card
After a card is named, you drop the deck onto the table and that very card turns itself face up on top.
Finding Any Number of Selected Cards
Several freely chosen cards are lost in the deck, then produced all at once or one by one, even out of sight.
Finding All But A Chosen Card
You let the entire deck drop away but keep just the spectator's chosen card pinched in your hand.