Quick Flip

Original Author: Unknown

1. Shuffle the deck, and as you finish the shuffle and deck compaction turn the cards toward you and quickly spot the third card from the top. We'll assume that it's a seven.

2. Now tell the audience that you will look through the deck and remove the first three sevens you come to (using the value of whatever card you glimpsed in step 1). Turn the faces of the deck toward the audience and fan through it with your thumb so that the audience can watch you take the first three sevens out of the deck.

3. Fan the three sevens for the audience one more time and then hand them to a spectator.

4. Turn the deck face down and deal one card from the top face down onto the table. Instruct the spectator to place one of his sevens on top of this card. Deal the next card from the top of the deck onto his and have him place another seven on that card. Take one more card from the top of the deck (surprise: this is the fourth seven that you glimpsed in the beginning of the trick) and deal it on top of his card. Finally, have him put his last seven on top. He now thinks that his cards are separated by your cards.

5.Pick up the little pile of cards the two of you have made and place it on top of the deck.

6. Using the thumb and two center fingers on your left hand to hold the cards, give the deck a rip with your right hand's thumb and two middle fingers. This is accomplished by squeezing your right hand a little bit and quickly pulling it away to "pop" the cards.

7. Finally, flip over the top three cards and the spectators will be amazed to find the three sevens back together again.

Quick tips:

In order for the trick to work, the third card from the top must not have a duplicate value among the first two cards.

When you look through the deck for "the first three of your cards" you see, go slowly so that you don't pass one of them.

When you look through the deck for "the first three of your cards" you see, go slowly so that you don't pass one of them.

If the third card from the top (your target card) is red, put the matching red card on top of the three cards you give the spectator. If it is black, put the matching black card on top. When you flip over the three cards, they will have the same set of colors that you started with and the difference in suit will be less noticeable.

With one more step, you can also impress the audience after you flip over the first three cards on top. Slide the fourth card to the bottom of the deck. Because they are bewildered by the mixed-up cards coming back together they won't notice this. Now, the fourth matching card is on top of the deck. Say to the crowd, "That is nothing, here is the fourth seven."

Finally, once you know the value of the third card from the top of the deck, the trick will be even better if you can get the spectator to pick this number. You might know that the card's number is someone's favorite number or have a quick math problem to get there.

[Return to Intermediate Card Trick Index]