How to perform The famous 21 Card Trick

Now I know that this isn't going to be the most revolutionary in terms of tricks as I am sure that almost everyone even remotley interested in magic has not only seen this trick but probably learned how the trick was done at a very young age.

However the point of this is not in the difficulty of the trick but in pointing out the difference good performance makes to a trick.

I'll give a brief description as to how the trick works and then I will discuss variations on how the trick is performed.

The Effect

21 cards are dealt out in 3 rows of 7 and the spectator is asked just to think of one of the cards and tell the magician which row the card is in. The magician then picks the cards up and deals them out again into 3 rows of 7 and again asks which row the card is in this is done once more then the magican deals the cards face down until he stops and turns over the selected card.

Method

Now there is no real secret as to how the trick is done and most people reading this will be familiar with this trick but just a brief explanation for anyone who doesn't know how this trick is done.

Each time the magican asks which row the selected card is in that row is picked up second putting it in the middle of the other rows after this is done three times the selected card will then be 11th from the top the magician simply counts out 10 cards and stops before turning over the next card to display the selceted card.

Performance

Now I know that so far this is pretty basic stuff but I want to use this basic trick to demonstrate how the trick can be performed to a much a higher standard and make it appear to be more than just a self working trick.

First thing is to pick out 21 cards and then to clearly shuffle the cards in front of your spectator even allow your spectator to do the shuffling.

One thing I will always stress when trying to improve the performance of a trick is always let the spectator do as much as they can do in an effect this creates the illusion of fairness, Even if you are using a deck of cards that have a specific set up there may be ways that will allow you to let the spectator shuffle the deck without interrupting your set up, I will discuss how this is done in another posting.

Anyway the spectator shuffles the cards then hands them back to yourself, you can choose to shufle them again if you wish but it's not important.

Next you fan the cards and ask the spectator to pick a card in the traditional manner and get them to show the selected card to the audience.

The reason that this is better is that it allows the other spectators to be more involved in the trick as they now know where the selected card is when you do eventually deal them out into the 3 rows of 7 and the more you can involve each member of the audience in a trick the more they will enjoy the trick.

Once the card has been selected have the card replaced in the deck and have it shuffled again this is purely to install the illusion that everything is fair and there is no way that you can know the card selected.

Now you proceed with the usal method of the trick dealing the cards out into 3 rows of 7 each time putting the selected collumn in the middle of the other two.

Now after the 3rd time in the sequence instead of just counting out 10 cards and turning over the 11th make it seem a bit more magical.

Say to your audience, "now what are the magic words" pause and say "Hocus Pocus" and then spell out Hocus Pocus out loud "H-O-C-U-S-P-O-C-U-S" and now turn over the next card.

As you can see you have now turned a very simple trick into a more complex routine.