How to Prearrange the Cards for Magic Card Tricks

Many card tricks are not quite as complicated as you may think. The magician may be talented and quick with his/her hands but usually there is more skill and strategy involved. With card tricks, a prearranged deck is usually the answer to how it was done.

• Give the deck a thorough shuffling and fan it out for your audience. Place it face down and ask someone to pick one card, any card at all.


• Tell them to memorize the card and show it to everyone else there.


• Cut the deck in half and ask them to place the card on top of the cut deck. Prior to joining the halves have a quick look at the bottom card of the cards you are holding. Let us say it is the two of clubs.


• Cut the cards as many times as you would like in front of your audience. At this point you just have to keep in mind that your guest’s card is under your two of clubs in the deck.


• Tell them that you are going to pick out the card they selected. Turn the deck so that the cards are face up and begin looking through them. When you get to the two of clubs the card directly over it will be the card they picked and exposed to the rest of the audience.


• Say your memory card (the two of clubs) ends up on the bottom of the deck. It simply means that their card will be the top card on the deck.


• Go online and you can find many more tricks just like this. They are all a result of prearranging the deck and are not truly magic at all.