How to Do a Simple, Yet Profitable Card Trick

This trick's the simplest and most profitable card trick you'll ever learn. The set up is similar to a lot of introductory card tricks, it's the pay off that's ingenious and takes a little bit of acting on your part to pull off well.

Practice the set up on your own, if you've done any card tricks before this one will come to you quickly.

First, get a regular deck of cards and start doing a standard shuffle. Notice how you can see the bottom cards of the two piles when you bend the cards up to begin a shuffle? That's going to be important.

After you've shuffled the deck three or four times, do it once more while paying extra attention to the bottom card in your left hand (right works as well). Make sure that that pile begins the shuffle, meaning the card you've just seen is on the bottom of the deck. Practice this move repeatedly, you need to be able to shuffle quickly and neatly in front of people and still make sure to get your glance at the bottom card in.

Let's say the card on the bottom is the seven of hearts for this example.

Now you square up the deck neatly and place it on the table in front of your victim. Ask them to cut the cards, look at the card they've cut to, then place it back down and finish the cut.

Do this yourself a few times before doing this trick for people. If you cut the cards then look through the deck, you'll see that the seven of hearts is now directly in front of the card you've cut to. Great ,right? Now you know their card.

The rest of the trick is about spicing up a very standard routine. If you were to just grab the deck up and sift through it there'd be very little mystery or wow, and definitely no free lunch.

So instead, pick up the deck and do a little basic shuffling in your hands. Peel off five or ten cards from the top and slap them on the bottom. Do this a few times, making sure to keep checking the bottom card, because if the seven of hearts goes to the bottom of the deck you'll know their chosen card is now on top, which isn't the end of the world. Normally if that happens just hand the deck back to them and tell them to peel off the top card. It's pretty slick and looks intentional.

However, figuring that most of the time their card will be in one of 51 other spots. This is where the fun starts.

Start flipping over the cards one by one. Allow them to spread out face up around the table haphazardly. Try to spread your pile out so that they're all visible, but it doesn't have to be neat by any means. When the seven of hearts comes up you know the next card to hit the table is the card you're looking for.

Here's the trick with in the trick: when the card you're looking for hits the table, keep flipping as if you haven't noticed it. Make a note of what it was and where it hit the table so you can get back to it quick.

After five or ten cards as your friend is staring at the table wondering why his card is laying there and you're still puttering announce to him "Alright bud! I got it now. I guarantee your cards the next one I flip over!"

When you're met with a smug look offer to bet lunch/five bucks/a shaved head on it. Your friend, with larceny in his heart will almost always accept your sucker bet.

Once you've agreed to terms, calmly reach into the face up pile, pick up your friend's card and flip it face down in front of him.

Enjoy your hard earned Chipotle on him!

As I said before occasionally this trick will end with his card being on the top or the bottom of the deck. If that happens play it off as being part of the trick and while you won't be able to make any bets it looks rather impressive to the watcher.