daniel madison the card cheat handbook

daniel madison the card cheat handbook ................................................................... daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................daniel madison the card cheat handbook ...................................................................

THE CARDCHEAT HANDBOOK VOLUME 1: by DANIEL MADISON Marking Systems | Stacks | Deception at the table THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK by DANIEL MADISON VOLUME 1: Marking Systems | Stacks | Deception at the table Page04 Page05 Page06 Page07 Page07 Page07 Page07 Page08 Page09 Page09 Page11 Page13 Page15 Page17 Page19 Page22 Page23 Page24 Page25 Page27 Page28 Page30 Page31 Page32 Page33 Page34 Page34 Page35 Page36 Page37 Page38 Page38 Page40 Page41 Page42 Page43 Page44 Page44 Page45 Page46 Page47 Page48 Page49 Page49 Page50 Page51 Introduction Preface Chapter 12 – The Blood Deck Making The Blood Deck The Short Card The Corner Card Duplicates Marking The Blood Deck Marking Systems Marking Systems – Bicycle Rider Back Arc Marking Systems – Bicycle Rider Back Birds Marking Systems – Bicycle League Back Marking Systems – Tally-Ho Circle Back Marking Systems – Tally-Ho Fan Back Marking Systems – David Blaine Split Spades Learning The Markings Checking For A Marked Deck Effects With A Marked Deck Basic Card Selection Pulse One Copycat Curtail Tell One Pariah Dead Pariah Falling Pariah Pariah Swami Alternative Junction Flash Chapter 13 – The Blood Stack Stacking The Deck Learning The Stack The Hein-Shuffle Variation Overpush Block Shuffle Deck Switchig Effects With The Blood Stack Half Memory The Blood Stack Card Selection BSSS (Blood, Stack, Swami, Sinker) Perfect Memory Blood Cut Numb Numb Reversal Card@Any Conclusions, Acknowledgments, Afterthoughts THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK by DANIEL MADISON VOLUME 1: Marking Systems | Stacks | Deception at the table MARKED DECK- Each card in a marked deck has a unique marking hidden within the back of the card that reveals its identity to the reader READER- A reader is one who operates a marked deck, typically a card-cheat or a magician INTRODUCTION ENTER THE BLOOD SYSTEM Welcome, and thank you much for investing in my ideas Printed here, are chapters 12 + 13 of a book I started over years ago, initially titled HOW TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL CARD CHEAT, which spent a long time under scrutiny from an unmentionable authority The ethos of the book was rejected and restrained from publication on account of its potentially dangerous material My intentions were innocent yet the information translated as a direct source of training for card cheats and therefore deemed irresponsible and dangerously suggestive Needless to say, the ironically titled book was banned from release The book was re-written and renamed as THE CARD CHEAT and was once again bound from publication as the re-penned work still upheld as far too suggestive for the training cheat The Card Cheat Handbook epitomises the foundation of a model that I have applied to most of my repertoire since 2000, a model which thrusts effects to an elite level of performance, allowing the magician to perform flawless miracles and impossible card magic under the fairest of circumstances The effects herewith pay due attention to the process of the effect rather than the effects themselves, as it is the method behind that supports the madness, and not the madness itself What you are about to read is the final two chapters of The Card Cheat Handbook and the only two chapters granted publication by the said authority, the other eleven chapters remain on lock-down until further notice, some of which will be approached through the lecture notes ‘3’ and a yet-to-be-titled DVD, and some others are already lined up for The Card Cheat Handbook Volume THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK PREFACE Throughout Chapter 12 I will cover how to mark your own cards of the following designs… Bicycle Rider Back – Red, Blue, Black, Green, + Special additions Bicycle League Back – Red, Blue, Black Tally-Ho Fan Back – Red, Blue, Black, + Special additions Tally-Ho Circle Back – Red, Blue, Black, + Special additions David Blaine Split Spades - Red, Blue, + Special additions The marked deck is perceived as the most powerful utility of the cheat, it may be a tool of limited in-play opportunities, but when given and able, no cheat would miss the chance to take it for a spin It is not my place to teach one how to adapt such an instrument of subterfuge to a poker session, and the powers that be have banned me from doing so, I am however granted the right to teach the willing how to adapt card-cheating techniques into the world of magic and illusion, through which I boldly borderline the adaptation of sleight-of-hand within the gaming sector, not something I can or would want to promote or advertise, but am still happy to share the transition within these pages As a young veteran of gaming deception, I have experienced first hand the wealthy benefits of employing cardcheating techniques within performance magic, for which the use of a marked deck offers far fewer risks than at a live poker table Many marked decks have been shafted into the magic orifice over the years, from blatant shit to hidden gems, the spectrum being either or very few between The problem with bad decks is that most are produced as unique designs, usually for cheep tricksters, Christmas-crackers or granddads and in no way appropriate for the cheat, or illusionist The phenomenal gems are clever and clean yet way too expensive for the likes of the magician who spends his gigs ripping cards or having them signed by the suckers As over 90% of marking systems are made for the poker table, they don’t always bode well for the magician The Card Cheat Handbook was initially built for the card-table yet developed over the years to better suit the performing illusionist and in my modest opinion is the most compatible system for the modern magician Throughout chapter 13 I will cover The Blood Stack, how to stack the deck, how to memorise the stack and more importantly how to use it for flawless effects In this chapter, to support the stack, I will also tech some falseshuffles and sleights that will allow the deck to appear to be shuffled If you have yet to read any of my previous entries, you will only now be discovering my kind nature, I sincerely empathise with those performers who spend a hard earnt wage on tricks to find that most magic products on the market can be made from the price of the plastic bag they come in Each and every product I release is designed to save you the hassle and the dollar and as with each of my previous ideas, the Blood Deck was taken to the printers, manufacturers and finally mass-distributors so that I could round up a final product price The lowest price that a manufactured Blood Deck would have cost would have been £15, per deck, and the most expense would have been £25, and that’s just for the printing And so, with these instructions and teachings you have a system that will allow you to make as many of these decks as you desire, for the quoted price of one, (plus the price of a regular deck.) The Blood System can be applied to a normal deck within 10 minutes; its design is subtle on the readers’ eye, yet invisible to the spectator, and most importantly it eliminates both the expensive and crap marked decks… You can use the deck as you would any and not worry about tearing or having any signed simply because you know that within 10 minutes you can make a new deck The deck has minimal conditions outside of the marking system and with the model of effects in the final section of this work, you’re repertoire may just supersede your every performance expectation Enjoy D A magician who can cheat at cards is a good magician, a cheat who can magic is a dangerous man Randal Freeman THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK CHAPTER 12 THE BLOOD DECK A card-cheat is only so when he is caught cheating Troy ‘Scales’ Simpson THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK CHAPTER 12 THE BLOOD DECK MAKING THE BLOOD DECK Before hitting some of the achievable effects with the system, you will first need to construct the deck… The Blood Deck is a deck of playing cards manipulated with a series of individual deceptions ultimately offering a tool for flawless performances In it’s basic description, the blood deck is a marked deck The other secrets of the deck include a shortened Key card, a Cornered card and two duplicate cards Throughout this chapter I will explain how I make the deck exactly as I have for MY performances, once you get a glimpse at my system, you will be able to begin developing your own to better suit your performances Lets get to work… THE SHORT CARD This is a card that is 1mm shorter than every other card in the deck and is used mainly as a location card Key cards are very common in magic and in my opinion are highly underestimated A shortened card has many valuable uses, which will be covered throughout The most ideal way of achieving a cleanly shortened card is with the use of a steel ruler, a sharp art-blade and a rubber surface to cut on although a steady hand can cut the card equally as acceptable with a pair of scissors Make sure the edges of the card are rounded and not left sharp or squared In the deck the card is located by riffling up the back of the cards, due to the shortened card the riffle will automatically stop wherever the card is My shortened card is always the Queen of Hearts; this is mainly for the use within the Blood Stack, which is covered much later on in this document, but it’s also the most commonly named card when asking a woman to name any For now, I would advise you use the same card merely for the purpose of the Blood Stack explanations; you can change this once you are fluent with the system THE CORNERED CARD The Cornered card is another key/location card which adapts the same concept as the short card Looking at the face of the card, the index corners (top left and bottom right) are cut shorter by about 1mm creating a wider curve to the corners This is achieved by the simple use of sharp scissors When cutting the corners, make sure you don’t cut to deep creating an angle too wide, which will stand out as a manipulated card You want the card to blend in and go unnoticed if ever selected you only need to lose a millimetre off of each opposite corner In the deck the card can be located by riffling up/down the index corners of the deck, the riffle will automatically stop on the shortened corner The shortened card I always use is the of Hearts, not only another commonly named card but an essential attribute of the Blood Stack, which again, will be covered later THE DUPLICATES Within the deck is a duplicate of the of Clubs as well as a duplicate of the of Diamonds The is hidden in the box, tucked under the box flap, and the is always at the bottom of the deck I’m sure you’re already aware of the many advantages of having duplicate cards, something not uncommon to magicians, once again; uses for the duplicates will be covered much later This addition to the deck is an obvious amendment to the system since its transition from a device for the card-cheat MARKING THE BLOOD DECK The Blood System employs a common method for marking a deck of cards known as FILLING, in which selected white areas of the design are filled in with an ink the same colour as the deck design – thus altering the image and translating a unique value to the reader The Blood System keeps its small markings within the same area of each design in a location close to the edges; usually to the top left, this is the most visible part of the card without having to remove cards from a fanned or spread deck, offering more opportunity to read the cards without having to see the entire card In most cases, a permanent ink is used for the markings that’s either identical to the card colour or pitch white, but some systems have taken to the manufacturer where the marked decks are actually printed making them more failsafe, however, as covered earlier, these decks tend to be too expensive for the modern performer In some cases, the same ink used by the card manufactures can be obtained offering the safest marking material possible The Blood System uses ink readily available to most magicians, an ink so simple that nobody has ever thought that this could actually work…The Sharpie The Sharpie has become a magic wand to the magician, a utility that can advance an effect from good to outstanding, and it’s about to gain far more value to you than ever The sceptical of you will assume this a cheap and tardy method for a marking system, cheap it may be, but it is far from trash I have tried, tested and been 100% successful with each deck covered in this document in the colours RED, BLACK and BLUE; conveniently the most commonly available coloured Sharpies Should you be performing with a Green deck, Green Sharpies are also easy to obtain Obviously you will need a sharpie that matches the same colour as the deck you wish to mark By a matter of concept, each of the three common inks are perfect matches for the inks used by the USPCC decks covered by the Blood System allowing for a near-flawless marking system I advise that you not rely on any other form of permanent marker, many have been trailed and most leave a tan on the face of other cards The quality of your markings will rely on a few attributes that you have to be strict with… The pen must have a sharp end The pen must be new, recent or ideally unused Do not rush when marking your cards… Keep your patience Mark your cards under a good strong light As long as you fill the required area of the card, use as little ink as possible Allow each card to dry for a minimum of 30 seconds Always practice on the advertisement cards first Here’s how to mark your deck… THE BICYCLE RIDER ARC BLOOD MARKING SYSTEM This marking system is the only reason I’ll ever use Rider Back Bikes, in my opinion, it is the most easily accessible to read from a spread deck and marked so subtly It will take a little longer to get used to the grid, but it will be worth it SUIT INDICATOR SPADES HEARTS CLUBS DIAMONDS There is a small white arch just below the upper left and lower right angels This is used as an indicator for the suit of the card The white arch is unmarked to indicate a Spade The white arch is missing which indicates a Heart The lower half of the white arch is marked to indicate a Clubs The upper half of the white arch is marked to indicate a Diamond VALUE GRID ACE TWO THREE FOUR The five white dots inside the circling arch as shown above are used as a clock grid to indicate the value of the card The dots, from left to right will be named dots to Dot is exempt from the markings and is never used Dot 1, as marked above, indicates an Ace The next white dot (dot 2) as marked above indicates a The next white dot as marked above indicates a The last dot is marked to indicate a4 All cards from Ace to (as above) are the most recognisable as counting the unmarked white dots to the left of the marking tells the value of the card FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE As all dots are used for the other lower values, values to continue filling dots The 1st dots indicate a The 2nd dots indicate a The final dots indicate a dots are also filled to indicate the remaining cards; these are filled dot apart starting from dot The dots filled out above indicate an The dots filled out above indicate a TEN JACK QUEEN KING A 10 is indicated by marking dots and The 1st dots are marked to indicate a Jack The last dots are marked to indicate a Queen The King is the only card that has no markings Below are a few examples of marked Bicycle Rider cards… ACE OF SPADES JACK OF DIAMONDS SEVEN OF HEARTS FOUR OF CLUBS KING OF SPADES The 1st dot in the value grid is marked indicating an Ace The white suit grid arch is unmarked indicating a Spade The 1st dots are marked to indicate a Jack the upper part of the suit grid is marked indicating a Diamonds Dots last dots are marked on the value grid indicating a 7, the white suit arch is completely marked indicating a Heart The last dot on the value grid is marked indicating a The lower half of the suit arch is marked indicating a Club No dots are marked on the value grid indicating a King, the white arch is unmarked indicating a Spade THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK CHAPTER 13 – THE BLOOD STACK To cheat at cards is not immoral, it’s just a sure tactic Adrian ‘Tilt’ Murphy THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK CHAPTER 13 – THE BLOOD STACK The Blood stack transforms the Blood Deck into the ultimate weapon… The Blood Stack is a blood deck completely stacked in an order unique to the performer Before you even contemplate using a stacked deck, you have to confront and challenge the obvious flaws and obstructions, which at first may seem too risky to even think about Starting with the biggest and most obvious problem, the deck’s in order so it can’t be shuffled If somebody performed a location effect, or any effect for that matter without shuffling the deck, you’d have to assume some kind of stack, so the only way to overcome this is to master a few or at least one good false shuffle, a few of which will be covered shortly For now, lets learn the stack… STACKING THE DECK My stack is based around a simple memory trick I was once fond of and with the setup of the blood stack can still enjoy form time to time I’ll cover the trick (HALF MEMORY) in a few pages, for now, here’s how I stack MY blood deck… 2 A A 9 10 11 12 J 13 14 Q H C H C H D C D D C D S H D 15 16 X 17 X 18 K 19 20 21 J 22 Q 23 24 K 25 26 J 27 28 Q C H C C C D C C C D C D C H 29 Q 30 31 32 33 34 J 35 X 36 37 38 39 X 40 A S S D D H H S D S D D S 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 K A K S H S S S H H S H S S H LEARNING THE STACK I cannot offer you much of a memory system, only advice on how to achieve a comprehensive memorised stack There is no method to the deck other than a few key cards, which are all associated to the number of their location within the deck Many memory systems rely on 52 different associations, for example, all 4’s represent A’s as they look similar, therefore the of Hearts would be AH… an acceptable associated card would be Anthony Hopkins (nod.) It seemed quite obvious to me that having 52 different associations within the deck – one for each card – would cause far too much strain on my memory than it would simply remembering the deck, it also seems like a huge waste of time that could be spent simply connecting with the deck and learning the cards for what they are and what the mean to me personally For example, cards from positions to offer my date of birth – 28th December 1979… I’ll rarely forget that The blood stack relies on a series of spaced key-memory-cards that separate small individual series of playing cards The key cards allow the mind to naturally remember the cards on either side as well as remember those cards as series rather than just random cards The stack is made up of two halves The first half (top half) is the most important of which, which offers a very subtle and sly way of remembering the order of the deck, thus offering a natural memory of the lower half These two halves are separated by a key card as made earlier; the Queen of Hearts (card 28 which is the last card in the top half) The top half consists of 28 cards; within this half is every Club card the deck and only one Spade – The Jack There are only Heart playing cards in this half and these are all the even cards… 2,4,6,8,10,Q There are Diamond playing cards in the top half and these are all the odd cards plus every Diamond Face card… A,3,5,7,9,J,Q,K This is vital information to the stack When the top half is shuffled, none of this information is in any way obvious to the untrained eye Knowing this information about the top half offers you a natural process of elimination, you not have to remember which cards are in the lower half as your memory of the top half identifies every card in the deck There are obviously no Club cards in the lower half, and every Spade other than the Jack All of the odd Heart cards are in the lower half as well as all of the even Diamonds; apart from the Diamond Face cards As the top half consists of 28 cards, you know there can only be 24 in the lower half This information is of high value to the upcoming effect HALF MEMORY After the cards used at positions 2-9 (my birthday) I purposely leave a gap of unassociated cards before my next key-memory-card… of Clubs… I position this card here for the use of an ‘odds’ trick, whereas you write down a prediction (7C) and ask the spectator to think of a number between 10 and 20 before asking them to count to this card etc Because I know that card 15 is the of Clubs, I am forced to develop a natural memory of the cards between and 15 Memorising a small series of cards is a very easy task to achieve The next key-memory card is the Black Jack, conveniently placed at position 21, with the Queen of the same Suit right next to it Between The of Clubs and the Jack is another simple series of cards, the order is random once again, but there are only cards in a series that only takes a few minutes to memorise The next key-memory-card is another Jack The Jack of Diamonds is often related to whiskey, being the JD and all It’s also at position 26 in the deck They way I have come to fix this in my memory is with the associated help of Bran Van 3000 and their classic lyrics… what the hell am I doing drinking in LA at 26 From here on I know that the significant cards are few and far between so I know I’m halfway At 31 I have the of Diamonds… 3-1 = At 32 I have a of Diamonds… x = Remembering everything between this card and the Ace of Spades at 40 is simple a section memory, and currently the section that took the hardest to learn, and you’ll find this with your stack too, there’ll be easy sections and sections that baffle you, no matter how often you practice Card 44 is the next key card and is conveniently a Following is card 47… – = of Hearts, from here the cards add up in multiples of 3… 3,6,9 and then back to The final two cards are cards that need as accessible for certain tricks in my repertoire… The of hearts as it’s the most common and the King for a Zippo lighter trick I often perform as covered in the ONE lecture Once you learn the position of each key-memory-card in your stack, the series between them will start to sink in and you’ll be able to begin training The most basic way you can train whilst memorising your deck is in sections Take the first 10 cards and read them to yourself in your mind Turn them face down and see if you can name each one before turning it As you get fluent with 10, add another 5, and so forth until you have the entire deck rolling comfortably in your memory The colour or suits aren’t important at first, just go for the values, this will free up more sub-memory allowing your mind to make a natural memory of the colours and shapes, rather a forced memory of the added information The hardest part of learning the deck will be the locations of each card, so it’s wise to say the card number before you name the card, this will add strain but will be very worthwhile in the long run as learning the cards before the numbers will only add confusion and a longer span of training I know that the above is merely an explanation as to how I have my deck and doesn’t offer much of memory training, but I hope the advice offered here will set you off toward your own stack, there’s nothing more depressing to a performer than to know that his stack is not entirely his own A few years back now I was at a lecture by **** ******* and he was doing a famous routine he created called *** *** *** ****, as the stack is taught in his manuscripts a volunteer audience member was able to turn the tables and answer yes to the question… ‘Do you think you’d be able to memorise this entire shuffled deck?’ A situation nobody would like to find him or herself in Once you have your stacked deck you will need to back it up with a few different false shuffles… Before we go any further, lets not confuse the term false-shuffle with flourishing Flourishing, although an art primarily of magic that offers a wide variety of false cuts and order retaining techniques, should never become part of serious magic, especially with the use of a stacked deck Anybody who can speed-flourish a 7-packet shuffle isn’t going to shock me with a card-trick, and nobody likes a show-off, so save the flourishing until the end as a rather rewarding bonus THE HEIN-SHUFFLE VARIATION The Heinstein shuffle was first performed for me by Paul Edmondson at the 2005 Blackpool convention about 20 minutes after the ONE lecture I fell in love with it and have used it ever since The shuffle sees a regular inhand faro shuffle; one half riffled into another, then the two halves arched to fall into each other Paul showed me the shuffle and said ‘that’s a false shuffle.’ To which I replied ‘fuck off!’ or something less aggressive He showed me a few times and then revealed the secret, the next trick I performed for somebody at the convention was with a stacked deck, and the shuffle began Although I am prohibited to teach the shuffle I would like to offer my own variation The shuffle is angle sensitive but easily combated Begin by holding the deck in lower mechanics with your fingers gripping the top card as in image15 Take away the top half of the deck whilst retaining the top card … Do this with a little speed as to shade the retained card Hold both halves ready to riffle into one another from the long edge Drop every card of the bottom half whilst retaining the top card as shown in image16 Riffle the cards from the top half into the open gap between the top card and the lower deck – images16+17 Angle the cards slightly as shown in image18 Grip the inner corner of the top half of the deck with your thumb – image19 Spring the top half out from your thumb so that all of the cards shoot under the top card – images19+20 15: 16: 18: 17: 19: 20: OVERPUSH Not many performers will shuffle the cards by simply pushing to halves of the deck into each other, but this false mess does look quite acceptable as a shuffled deck Take away the top half whilst retaining the top card Push out the top and bottom card of the bottom half and pinch them together as shown in image21 Slightly slide-out the top card of the lower packet and push the pinched cards under as shown in images21+22 Under the deck, push forward the lower cards – image23 Turn the deck over to show the bottom cards as you push the packets together – image24 The top half will return to its initial position and the deck will still be in order 21: 22: 23: 24: BLOCK SHUFFLE This three-way cut imitates a regular overhand shuffle… A fracture is made in the deck: Hold the deck in mechanics grip and kick-cut the top third with your free hand into the crotch of your deck hand Break out the bottom third of the deck as if going to pass as in image26 Pull out a centre packet with your free hand as you clip out the lower packet – image27 Strip out the centre packet allowing the bottom packet to pass to the top as shown through images 28 and 29 Now take the centre packet – held in the right hand in image30 and drop it face up to the top of the other cards as if shuffling in image 31 whilst keeping the break between the other two packets with your forefinger as seen in image30 Take the lower packet away from the break as shown in image 32 and drop it to the top of the deck in the same fashion Done with a little speed and conviction, this will appear to be a regular shuffle 25: 28: 31: 26: 27: 29: 30: 32: BASIC DECK SWITCH Aside form learning how to false-shuffle the deck, depending on how you utilise the deck you may wish to take advantage of switching the deck mid-performance The switching deck is positioned in the left hand back pocket as in image33 The left hand takes the deck out of the pocket hidden in the back of hand as in image34, image35 exposes this The deck in use is brought over the top of the switching deck, which becomes positioned back-set from the deck in use so that it is hidden as shown in image36 The decks are then aligned as in image37 Held at the right angle the deck will be completely hidden as in image38 The lower deck is then passed above the deck in use as shown in images 39+40, this should play as nothing more than a cut The deck is then pushed back into the same position as image36, as seen in image42 The lower deck is then copped away and held by the performers side as shown in image43 You can tilt your body to the side to hide the dump of the switched deck in your back pocket as shown in image44 33: 37: 41: 34: 35: 38: 39: 42: 43: 36: 40: 44: EFFECTS WITH THE BLOOD STACK HALF MEMORY The deck is cut in two and the spectator selects any pile A prediction is made by the performer and handed to the spectator to hold onto The performer then riffles through the other half of the deck and is then able to name how many cards are held by the spectator, then how many in their packet are read and how many are black, and then how many of each suit and finally the performer names every card The revelation is then revealed that the performer had already pre-conceived every card in the cut packet Half Memory will allow you to practice your memory of the stack mid-performance… You’ll need a pad of paper, a pen and a calculator (most people will have a calculator function on their mobile phone.) When you introduce the deck you may want to offer a little subterfuge in the form of false shuffles Cut the deck in two at the cutting position (Cornered Queen of Hearts – make sure this is the bottom card of the top half, you’ll have to riffle the deck down from the corner as opposed to up so that you can land the QH with ease) …and have the spectator chose a half It’s quite irrelevant to the trick which half they choose as long as you memorise the following… The top half consists of 28 cards in total… x Heart cards; these are all the even cards (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Q) There are x Diamond cards, these are all the odd cards plus every Diamond face card (Ace, 3, 5, 7, 9, J, Q, K) The top half also consists of every club card and only one Spade card… The Jack of Spades Consider that the spectator chooses the top half… Take the other half and weigh it for a second, don’t take too long Judging by the weight of this half, I’d say that I have 24 cards, which would mean you had 28 Can you just count them for me, don’t let me see them… The performer writes the number 28 on the pad of paper as the spectator counts the cards Okay, I’m going to take a very quick glimpse at my half of the deck… Take the 24 cards and quickly riffle through them looking at their faces Okay, I saw 12 red cards, which means there are 14 red cards in your half… Can you separate the colours and count out how many red cards you have Write down 14 on the pad, then below it write x HEARTS | x DIAMONDS, place the pad aside, face down Okay, that means you must have 14 black cards too Now separate the red cards into two piles of Hearts and Diamonds… Don’t let me see the cards… How many Hearts? And how many Diamonds? Turn over the pad to reveal another correct prediction At this point you can name each red card from each suit Don’t be silly and reel them off as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and Queen of Hearts, mix them up so that their nature as even cards goes unnoticed… Now I didn’t see any clubs in my half so I think you must have them all… And you only have one spade card, I’m pretty sure it’s the Jack So that’s 13 Clubs and Jack… Write down 13 and on the pad Ask your spectator to calculate all of the numbers written on the pad of paper before inviting them to open the prediction THE BLOOD STACK CARD SELECTION The performer spreads the deck and looks away as the spectator freely selects any card, without looking the performer is able to instantly name the selected card This is the stack version of the basic card selection with a marked deck This selection offers you more safety and security by diminishing the thought that the deck could be marked, it does however lose the beauty of being able to have your spectator shuffle to their hearts content yet is offered as a point of selection should you need to retain the stack for any follow-up effects False-shuffle the deck before spreading it face-up to show a mixed up deck, never state that the deck is mixed up, this only sparks thoughts that maybe it really isn’t, for any fool can tell a mixed deck from an order, so why would one need to promote the mix (insert rhetorical ? here.) Once overlooked, gather the deck and spread it face-down, it’s important that the spread is tidy and even so make sure you have a nice surface to spread the cards on As you offer the selection, completely cover your eyes (there’s no need to peek this time.) Invite your spectator to slide a card away from the deck before completely covering it up with their hand Any card removed from a spread deck will disturb the flush ribbon spread, so when you look back you’ll see exactly where the card was taken from Here’s where you learn the value of the card You’ll need to read the back of the card below the card selected Due to the stack you will be able to calculate which card is at the position before this card thus knowing the selected card When you uncover your eyes, you’ll need to read this key card with speed, if you can’t see the markings you can turn to a method of pushing all of the face-down cards away from the spectators selection, making sure you uncover the key card You could take the revelation a number of ways, however you are limited due to this being a free selection as opposed to a force… To better add to this revelation I offer BSSS… BSSS (BLOOD, STACK, SWAMI, SINKER) The performer writes down a prediction before a card is freely selected from a spread deck, the prediction is shown to be correct This is merely the Blood Stack Card Selection as taught above with the killer ending of a swamied prediction You start by fake writing the card, then swami it once you know the card The impossibility of the effect works wonders and the further promotion of a swami should have you itching to use one by now! For those who need further explanation… You’ll need a pad of paper, a pen and a matching swami… False shuffle the cards and spread them face up to show a mixed deck Turn the deck face-down and spread once more Take the pad of paper and pen and fake write a prediction; I often find it better not to say anything about the prediction just yet as you can use the explanation as cover to buy you swami time in a few moments… Now, take out any card, from anywhere in the deck… As soon as you clock the markings on the selected card, swami the card on the pad as you use the cover of… Okay, so on this pad of paper I made a prediction, a prediction of which card you would chose from the deck… Once swamied, place the pad face down and lose the swami Begin turning the other cards face up This buys you more time to lose the thought that the pad could have been manipulated following the selection, it’s wise when placing the pad down to place it closer to the spectator as you can use this to affect their memory later as when they think about the process they may well bypass the thought that you still held the pad for a while after making your prediction You could have chosen any of these cards; a completely free choice and you went for that one… Turn over your card At this point you can offer that classic oh poo, I done wrong look on your face before inviting them to turn the pad over… you can now reveal that you are in fact the son of God PERFECT MEMORY After shuffling the deck, the performer is able to name – in consecutive order – every card in the deck with his back turned and eyes closed This effect should really have been at the forefront if all the stacked deck effects as it is at it’s most basic of uses simply the deck in order, read one card at a time As simple as it is one should not underestimate the power of this effect, as after all it’s the play that makes the props work and not the other way around Personally, I’d be one for a deck switch to accompany this routine, however, as this is not something we would all like to risk you would be better simply false shuffling I want to show you something I’ve spent the past years studying, which is known by professionals as Perfect Memory It’s the closest thing to a photographic memory one can get by means of training and practice There have been many memory cheats who have used this technique at card-games and casinos and some people – experts can this with up to 30 decks at a time Here’s how it works… Spread the deck face-up across the surface and focus on the first card, slowly roll your eyes from card one to card 52 clocking every card This should only take you seconds or so Quickly close the spread deck and turn the deck face-down Hold your head for a few moments with your eyes closed, it is here that you will need to act as though you are storing the order of the deck in your memory After a few seconds, hand the deck to the spectator as you explain… Okay, I’m not sure how close I’ll get but I’m going to try get as many cards as I can… What I was doing then was capturing a visual image of the deck as a single object, and the idea is that I can now go back to that memory and break it down into single cards… I’m going to turn my back and start naming each card in the deck, after I name the card, turn it over to see if I’m right, only stop me if I get one wrong The rest is all down to your memory and acting It’s far better that you don’t just reel them off, the struggle adds to the impossibility of it BLOOD CUT The spectator cuts the deck anywhere and looks at their card, they keep hold of the cut cards; the performer is instantly able to name the card they are looking at Early 2007 saw the release of CUT at my site, an effect that was tested out at Blackpool07 convention It was only after the release of the effect that I found this method of getting close to CUT The differences between CUT and BLOOD CUT are that this effect is a free selection and not a force, which is what made CUT so powerful I feel that this variation is better as it requires no gimmicks other than the stack and markings as opposed to CUT, which is a gimmick unto itself… Once again, this is an easy effect that requires very little explanation After a few false shuffles, place the deck down and ask the spectator to cut the deck anywhere looking at the card they cut to (the lowest card of the stack they hold.) You can cover your eyes as they this, just leave a gap big enough to read the markings on the card left on top of the packet that remains on the surface, knowing this card offers with the aid of your memory system the value of the card selected Use the revelation, as you will… Dare I suggest the swami once more?! NUMB The spectator cuts the deck; the performer is instantly able to tell how many cards have been cut NUMB is a continuation and development of BLOOD CUT and an effect that naturally follows the setup of the stacked deck This is merely an add-on effect for a succession of memory demonstration build-up effects This works as simple as it sounds and is a matter of reading the card cut to (top card of the lower packet) thus offering the value of the lower card of the cut packet thus offering you the number of cards held Not only is this a clever little gem but it can also be followed up with… Not only did I know you’d cut that many cards but I knew the exact card you cut to… (insert card cut to here.) NUMB REVERSAL The spectator names any playing card to which the performer responds with a number, the named car is found at this number The spectator names any number between and 52 to which the performer instantly names the playing cadr at that location I needn’t offer an explanation to this as you’re training up to this point will naturally understand the method, however if you’ve skipped a few pages, shame on you, start again from the beginning CARD@ANY The spectator names any playing card and then any number between and 52, the named card is then found to be the card at the named number in the deck The sharpness of this effect relies on your dexterity with the deck The first skill you have to master is cutting to any card Once you’re familiar with the stack, practice cutting to any card, it may seem like an impossible task at first but with practice you’ll eventually hit it, or at least get close, fortunately this effect has backup methods for incorrect cuts Lets look at my stack… 10 11 12 13 14 A A 9 J Q H C H C H D C D D C D S H D 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 X X K J Q K J Q C H C C C D C C C D C D C H 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Q 2 J X X A S S D D H H S D S D D S 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 K A K S H S S S H H S H S S H Okay, buckle up and get ready for a maths lesson… Lets say that the named card was the Jack of Clubs and the number was 32, we know that the Jack is 21 cards down and we know we need it to be 32 cards down… 32 – 21 = 11; which means to achieve this effect we need to cut 11 cards from the bottom of the deck on top – which in turn you would need to cut to the King of Hearts which is 41 cards down However, this only offers the solution to the card at any number, but for the effect to work without question the cut has to be made secretly… Enter the pass… Images45 – 47 show the pass in action, you’ll notice how the lower 11 cards are passed to the top of the deck under the shade of the performers hand 45: 46: 47: If the named card was the of Hearts and the number was 14 we’d have to cut the deck at exactly 14 cards above the of Hearts, which is of Hearts at position 33 And so, if the card comes before the number it’s a matter of cutting the difference from the bottom to the top If the number comes before the card it’s a matter of cutting at the card location minus the named number I appreciate this isn’t the easiest concept to wrap your head around but keep practicing the two examples above and you’ll soon get used to the concept Lets look over example 01… the named card is the Jack of Clubs and the number is 32, we need to pass 11 cards from the bottom of the deck to the top Now, as we know that we need to cut to the King of Hearts, so after the pass all you need to is read the markings on the top card to see how close you were, if you’ve take fewer cards all you have to is another pass of the amount of cards you’ve missed If you’ve gone a little too far one a little too far you’ll need to pass the rest of the deck to add up the difference It’s all down to practice, I can’t offer much more training through document so take my suggestions and keep practicing… You don’t win what you don’t put in End THE CARD CHEAT HANDBOOK CONCLUSIONS, ACKNOWLEDGEMNTS, AFTERTHOUGHTS If any reading artist feels that any included and unaccredited work published in this document is at his or her or its’ creation or earlier discovery I offer my apology for failing to fully research to a point of discovering you I would be delighted to add, amend and duly credit any such cases, please get in touch so that further research can be made and due credit can be given Although chapters 12 and 13 were granted publication, a lot of valuable information still had to be cut, including a few sections in chapter 13 that covered memory exercises for card-counting techniques for use at the blackjack table, although you can obtain material that teaches similar methods I was unable to print such information in a document aimed at a different audience (non card cheats.) There were many more effects I wanted to add to this edit of the original book that had to be removed due to previously covered permission issues, if you are not already familiar with other popular marked/stacked deck effects I implore you to search for more, for there are some fabulous methods and theories out there just waiting to be played with I hope you discover your own interpretations of these effects and hope even more so that you discover new and impenetrable effects that benefit the teachings of the blood system, and I will keep battling to see the full release of The Cardcheats Handbook As more and more decks are released, more and more marking systems will be born, maybe in a few years if the book does see a release or a follow up to this system arises, I will take the time to apply a new system to more recent and rare decks I did remove a few deck marking systems from this work, as I only wanted to include the decks that would most benefit the magician and not the cheat KEM Arrow backs, Jerry’s Nuggets, Golden Nuggets and Any Bee Deck marking systems were removed as these decks apply mainly in casinos, nor did I want to cross that thin red line Thank you for investing the time in to learning what you have and I hope it is of more value to you than you expected, which is what I was aiming for I offer my best wishes with your art D I offer my acknowledgements, thanks and credits to the following… R | Scales | Tilt | Marx | r3man | D Brown | A Nyman | S2sh | G | Myles | Teddy KG Peanuts | L Jennings | A Slim And very special thanks to JB and D Blaine Each of you know why you’re names are here, thank you all for your help © Daniel Madison 2008 for Devils Advocate Productions | All rights reserved ... of the deck on the bottom card This card is then gripped in the deck hand under the deck Images0 2-0 4 shows the face cards being taken from the deck as the bottom card is stolen, the deck is then... pen to the spectator The performer asks the spectator to hold the pen in the air above the cards as high as they can He then asks that they drop the pen – nib-down – onto the cards anywhere The. .. you are fluent with the system THE CORNERED CARD The Cornered card is another key/location card which adapts the same concept as the short card Looking at the face of the card, the index corners