CONTENTS

Amalgam
You will find their thought of card but only if they can first read your mind and tell
you what card you are thinking of.

Full Proof
They guess the colour, suit and value of a card you are thinking of and you offer
them proof they are correct, every step of the way.

A Great Deal Psychic

Although they may not always be able to guess where your thought of card is, they
can somehow tell you what it is.

© Copyright Dave Forrest and Full 52 Productions 2016.

Please don't copy it, scan it, upload it or distribute it. Thanks.
 'READ ME' by Dave Forrest

Thank you for your interest in 'Read Me'.

The title is not just a rather abrupt command but also, as you might expect, a
hilarious play on words. You see, this manuscript contains three card effects that
fall into the category of 'Spectator As Mind Reader'. So, your spectator will literally
'read you' – see what I did?

It's a plot that has always fascinated me wherein an ordinary, unsuspecting

nobody is somehow able to correctly devine thoughts from inside the magicians
head. Amazing.

Each of the effects are, if I do say so myself, exceptionally strong and each uses
different and interesting methodology to accomplish the effect.

I hope you like what I've written down.

All the best,

Dave Forrest
June 2016
Amalgam

The effect here is that, from a freely shuffled (borrowed, if you like) deck, both
you and your participant will each think of a card. You will attempt to discover
their card BUT, you explain, the only way you will be able to do that is if they can
successfully READ YOUR MIND and correctly divine the card that YOU are thinking
of first!

This presentational wrinkle makes for an intriguing twist. It puts all the pressure
on your participant – if they can't read your mind, you won't be able to find their
card and the whole thing will fall down. Such is this pressure that, during
performance (and thanks to your general playfulness throughout) they will quite
reasonably assume that this premise is NOT actually what you intend to happen.
They will believe that they are being 'led a merry dance' because there is simply
NO WAY this could possibly work. Imagine how confounded they will be then
when it is discovered that they were in fact able to read your mind successfully
and the undeniable proof is right there in front of them.

To say this card effect stuns people is an understatement. There is NO FISHING AT

ALL. They don't ever have to tell you ANY DETAILS of the card they believe you are
thinking of and yet, it will end successfully every single time. The underlying
method is completely invisible to the lay person because it is, for want of a better
term, 'upside-down'. What they think is happening is actually the exact opposite of
what is taking place. Add to this the fact that the effect is over before it feels like
anything could really have happened; there appears to be no way that both the
cards on the table could possibly be correct. But, they are.

Part One – You and your participant will both 'think' of a card.

Hand the deck to your participant - let's say his name is Bob – as you outline what
you are both about to attempt. “I want you to shuffle these cards Bob. In a
moment we will both think of a card in this deck and, as happens in most card
tricks - and this is actually not really a 'card trick' at all – I am going to try to
discover what your card is. The caveat here Bob is that, and don't panic but, the
only way I will ever be able to find your card is if you are first able to read MY
mind and correctly guess what card I am thinking of! So, no pressure at all Bob!”
Take the deck back from Bob. You want to get a low-value spot card to second
from top. I start by glimpsing the bottom card. If it's a low value spot card (4 or
below) I double-undercut the bottom two cards to the top. If there's not a suitable
card on the bottom, run through the faces briefly to apparently display the mixed
condition and contrive to end up with a low-valued spot card second from top -
cull one or cut one into position. Let's say you end up with the Three of Hearts
second from top. Jog-shuffle or riffle shuffle the deck a few times leaving the
Three of Hearts in position.

Place the deck down and invite Bob to cut off half the cards. Pick up the lower half
and deal about 5 cards in a face down pile on the table. Invite Bob to do the same.
After he has dealt 5 or six cards tell him to stop and shuffle the balance.

Now you deal some more cards onto the pile on the table. Bob does the same.
Again you stop dealing and shuffle the balance.

"You don't need to actually deal them if you don't want to Bob" you say, as you
take a few clumps of three or four cards and add them to the pile. Bob does
likewise, adding a few more cards to his pile.

The balance is shuffled again and both of you drop your remaining cards onto the
pile.

"So, you shuffled and then we both shuffled and cut. Totally random?". Bob
agrees as you both square up your piles and pick them up.

Now you tell Bob to take his bottom card and 'kill it' as you take your bottom card
and shove it into the middle of your cards. Bob does likewise with the bottom card
of his pile.

"Now, for good measure, kill the top one too." You each bury the top card of your
packet in the middle.

You now cut off half your cards and place them onto the table. You place the
lower half on top at a ninety degree angle. Bob does the same, making a random
cut in his shuffled cards and marking the spot where he cut.
"Now you shuffled all the cards and I think it's fair to say we both then went on to
shuffle each of our halves before cutting into them. I reckon I've cut about
fourteen cards here." You point at the upper, cross-wise packet.

"I'm going to look at the fourteenth - give or take - card and remember it then put
it right back where it came from". You pick up the upper, cross-wise packet, look
at the face card and then drop it back onto the lower packet, all squared up.

You point at Bob's upper, cross-wise packet. "How many cards down do you think
you cut?"

Bob says "Seventeen".

"Ok, then look at the seventeenth card, remember it and drop it back in then
square up the pack". Bob does that and then you invite him to combine both
halves and shuffle the entire the deck.

"So, we're both now thinking of random cards from a shuffled deck and, most
importantly, we can't inadvertently be thinking of the same card, right?". Bob
agrees because that makes sense and it all seems very fair.

It's not. You know that Bob is thinking of the Three of Hearts. You're not thinking
of any card because you didn't actually pay any attention to whatever card you
looked at.

Part Two – You both try to determine the suit of each others card.

Place the deck down and lay the fingertips of one hand on one narrow end. Invite
Bob to place his fingertips on the opposite end. The deck will apparently be some
kind of 'conduit'.

"Now, we're going to try and read each other's mind, ok Bob? I'm going to
concentrate on the suit of my card and I want you to do the same. I'm going to try
and pick up on the suit of your card and you try to pick up on mine, ok?"

After a few moments of concentration: "Ok Bob, do you think you know what suit
my card is? Bob tells you he does. “Great! Don't say a word - I don't want to know
anything about what you're thinking. I think I've a good idea what your suit is too
Bob. It's actually very clear to me so, I think we're getting somewhere!”

This whole part about the suit is essentially meaningless as far as the method is
concerned but, it is important for the sake of the presentation.

Part Three – If Bob gets your card right, you'll know for sure what his card is.

“Now, no pressure here Bob but what I want you to do now is concentrate on the
value – that's the number – of my card as I think about it right now.” Pause for
concentration. “Don't say it out loud but, do you think you know what my card
is?” Bob says 'yes'.

“And do you think my card is higher than yours or lower?” Bob says 'higher'.

“Ok, and, think carefully now because there's a lot riding on your answer - how
many higher is my card than yours?” Bob says 'six'.

“Ok, six? Well, this is where it gets interesting Bob because, if you're right, I can
simply count backwards six places from the value of my card and I'll then know
what your card is!” Give him a minute to fully appreciate this. “D'you see? If
you've read my mind successfully and my card is actually six higher than yours and
I then count back six places – I'll know what your card is. But, on the other hand, if
you've got my card wrong, the count will be off, both cards will be wrong and this
will all have been a huge waste of time! Hang on... (you appear as though you're
doing some counting in your head)...ok, if you're right, I now know your card!”

“Take the deck Bob, run through the faces and place the card I'm thinking of –
whatever you think it is – face down on the table. I'll look away.”

Bob runs through the pack and removes a single card, placing it face down on the
table. You take the deck back and explain that you will do the same with what you
believe to be his card.

Now, you now run through the pack making a mental note of all the Nine's in the
deck. Since Bob thinks your card is SIX higher than his and you KNOW that his is a
THREE, he must have tabled one of the Nine's. So, you will only come across three
Nines as you run through the deck and whichever suit is NOT present tells you
which card Bob has tabled and which one you must announce as the card you
were thinking of.

Let's say, as you run through the deck, you note that the Nine of Clubs, Nine of
Spades and Nine of Hearts are all present. Bob has tabled the Nine of Diamonds.
But, let's not forget what you're 'really' going through the pack for – to find Bob's
card. So, after you've gathered the information you need, locate the Three of
Hearts and table it face down.

“Well Bob, here we are. Using only your own personal mind reading capabilities,
this is the card I think you're thinking of! I'll go first. The card I think you had in
mind was (turn your tabled card over) the Three of Hearts!” Bob will REACT!

“Which means you must have done the impossible Bob because the only way I
could have got this right is if you somehow knew that I was thinking of the Nine of
Diamonds! Turn it over.” Again, Bob will REACT and eventually turn the tabled
card (at which point everyone else will react too!) showing that he was somehow
able to accurately read your mind and tell you the very card YOU were thinking of.

Further thoughts

It may have occurred to you that, theoretically, there is no need to be specific

about the value of the card that you force - you can just glimpse the bottom card,
make a mental note of it, double-undercut the bottom two cards to the top and
go from there but, depending on the card, this may create problems for you down
the line. Most lay people are not completely familiar with the numerical value of
court cards and, while you can of course explain it to them, I'd rather side-step
this altogether. I find that forcing a low-valued, number card - a two, a three or a
four - combined with this very specific line of script, "...concentrate on the value –
that's the number – of my card...", you pretty much guarantee that the maths that
your spectator has to do in their head is straight-forward and that they will not
venture towards a court card.
If you plan in doing this routine often I recommend crimping and marking a low-
value spot card that you will always use as the force card. This will allow you to get
into the effect very easily and will mean you have much less to think about during
the actual routine.

I probably don't need to point out that you absolutely need a full deck of fifty two
cards to ensure that this will work 100% of the time, hiccup-free. That's definitely
worth bearing in mind.

At the point where you are determining the suit as you run through the deck,
clocking the three suits that ARE present to determine which one is NOT, I always
run through the deck TWICE. On the first run I am making absolutely sure to focus
only on those suits; which three are present, which one is missing. When I get to
the end of the deck, I simply comment: "Don't tell me this isn't a full deck!", then
run through again and find the force card, remove it and table it: "No, here it is - it
was hiding!". The point here is that you have no need to rush or try to concern
yourself with too much at once. Take your time and get it right.

Credits

The force used here is based on a Ben Earl force that was published in Genii
Magazine last year. I adapted it into the 'Do As I Do' type procedure used here
which works exceptionally well. Additionally, the idea of going straight into the
'Cross Cut Force' is a further addition that I feel is note-worthy.
See 'Red Herring', Ben Earl. 'Magicana', Genii, June 2015.

The routine in general owes much to Michael Murray's 'Springboard' technique. I

can't speak highly enough of Michael's 'Spectator As Mind Reader' effect and I
have performed it many, many times. At the point in the procedure where
Michael's technique was to subtly guide the participant to a card that was 'one or
two higher/lower' I preferred to simply ask the participant "how many do you
think my card is higher/lower than yours?". I opined that the overall technique
was strong enough to just ask them outright and ensure a higher chance of a
dead-on hit. It was with this in mind that I set about putting this routine together
with the specific notion of making this an integral part of the presentation.
See 'Springboard', Michael Murray. www.mindfx.co.uk
Full Proof

In this effect, another in the 'Spectator As Mind Reader' genre, Dai Vernon's
brilliant key card placement from 'Emotional Reaction' is used to great effect.

As your participant makes guesses as to the colour suit and value of your card,
along the way you can prove to them that they are correct each time so we deftly
side-step that awful 'magi-acting' you so often see: “Do you think my card is red or
black? Black? Wow! That's right! It was black! You're really good at this!”. It's
nothing more than a lesson on how to tip the method.

Further, the structure of the routine is very economical – you automatically

discover your key card at a most opportune moment and there also seems to be a
legitmate reason for the 'Emotional Reaction' key card placement procedure to
take place. If this is the type of thing you like then you're going to like this.

“Ok Bob, take the deck and shuffle please. I want to do something different here
and see if YOU can read MY mind! So, I'm going to think of my favourite card and,
piece by piece, I'm going to send that information to you and you're going to see if
you can determine what my favourite card is, right? But, so you know everything's
on the level I'm going to do this first...”

Take the deck from Bob and, run through the faces. Cut any red/black pair to the
top of the deck making a note of which will be the top card of the deck when the
deck is face down. Let's say, with the deck face down, red is on top and black is
second from top although, it really makes no difference in performance, as long as
you know which is which.

“...that's it. So you know I can't just go along with whatever you say now.”

Bob won't know exactly what you mean, but that's a good thing at this stage.

“Hold out your hand Bob – I'm thinking of just the colour of my card. It's either red
or black. When I touch you on the finger you tell me what you get, red or black.”
As you say this, get a break under the top two cards.
Reach out and touch Bob's fingertip. Bob says: “Black”.

There's no need to give Bob huge amounts of confidence-boosting

congratulations, just say: “It IS black, look.” And turn over a double on top of the
deck, displaying a black card. Now Bob will fully understand what you meant
earlier – he'll get it without you telling him. You are arranging to offer proof by
placing a card that matches what you're thinking on top of the deck.

“Ok, so, it's either a Club or a Spade...” Now run through and cut any Club/Spade
pair to the top of the deck. But, this time, as well as knowing for certain which of
the two suits is on top of the deck you must remember the whole card. So, let's
say you cut the pack and when it's face down, you have the Three of Spades on
top and under it is any club.

“Again, I've put it here on top so you know I'm not just going along with whatever
you say. Here it comes Bob, hold out your finger. Club or Spade?”

You touch Bob's finger and he says: “Spade.” You can congratulate him a bit more
now.

“It IS a Spade! Nice one!”, as you turn the top card of the deck to show him he is
correct.

“Now, I'll tell you straight, it's not this particular Spade (turn the Three face down
again) and it's not the Ace of Spades either.* But this is the big one so before I
commit, I want you to commit too. Hold out your finger and this time, when I
touch you and you think you know what the card is, say NOTHING.”

Touch Bob's finger again. “D'you think you've got it? Good, now just like I've been
doing, I want you to commit this time. Take the deck and run through until you see
which card you think it is. Now give all the cards in front of it to me. Now, as
secretly as you can, show it to Fred. Fred, don't say a word – now you're comitted.
Now hold the cards face down and cut them like this (demonstrate with the cards
you have) so the card gets lost somewere. Now cut off some of my cards. Drop all
yours in, put the rest on top. We're done.”
The above is Vernon's key card placement from 'Emotional Reaction' and it's
great! Incidentally, it gains strength if you turn your head away while it all takes
place. What has happened here is that the Three of Spades will now be right next
to the card they are thinking of. That is, if you run through the face up deck, when
you come to the Three of Spades, the card they are thinking of will be the one
directly after it in the spread.

Give the deck a casual false cut or two. “Now you're commited and Fred here will
be able to vouch for that and there's no way you can change your mind or cheat
now. Again, just like before, I'm going to get my favourite card and put it on top of
the deck so that I can't cheat either.”

Run through and cut the card behind the Three of Spades to the top of the deck
and table the deck face down: “Right, I'm now committed too. What's my
favourite card Bob?”

Bob tells you. Say nothing - just point at the top card of the deck and let him turn
it over.

Further Thoughts

* I always remove the Ace of the suit as a possibility at this stage. If they go for the
Ace it's just not as good. That's probably only from my perspective but, I do it
anyway.

You really want to keep this moving pretty quickly. Obviously, best case scenario,
you never need to turn a double at all. That does happen but it's just as likely
you'll need to turn two. The important point is that you don't go into 'cardman'
mode and start doing Gordon Turnover's. The whole point of the 'proof' is that it's
an afterthought for their benefit. You don't want to create a scenario where they
end trying to 'match the card on top of the deck'. That's not what it's about so, do
bear that in mind.

Just to be clear, if you had to turn a double at the point where they are guessing
the suit, you just turn that double back down again and use the same key card
because, obviously, it's still on top. Also, a false cut at this stage might not hurt.
You'll notice that Bob's friend Fred played a part here. The impetus for the key
card principle is that Bob shows the card to another person first. So, you need at
least two people. I wouldn't do the trick if you are one on one.

Credits

Inspired by John Carey's suggestion of an alternate presentation for Vernon's

'Emotional Reaction' as published in a booklet that was given to attendees of 'The
Lost Patron's of The Mother Black Cap' day of magic (which I organised) in
October, 2015. The booklet is not commercially available.

Key Card principle from Dai Vernon's 'Emotional Reaction'.

See 'Emotional Reaction', 'Inner Secrets of Card Magic' written by Lewis Ganson,
1959.
A Great Deal Psychic

This is a killer trick which dumbfounds everyone, magicians included. It has a silent
subtext that lends mystery and real intrigue to the proceedings and the fact that
they somehow guess EXACTLY which card you're thinking of is just unbelievable.

This uses another old principle – a binary sort – but it is actually a new take on
that principle by John Bannon that allows this effect to have such a massive
impact. John (in his absolute wisdom) increased the number of cards in play from
the usual eight to sixteen. Whereas an eight card sort leaves you with the thought
of card on top of the packet, John's expanded sixteen card sort leaves you with
two possibilities – one on top and one second from top. The fact is, sixteen cards
looks like A LOT when compared to just eight. Correctly discovering a thought of
card from a big bunch of cards is way more impressive which is why it works works
so well with the following presentation. An eight card binary sort would simply
NOT be enough for this to have the desired impact.

I have taken John's sixteen card sort and swapped out the usual 'faro' sorting
procedure for a more traditional dealing sequence. You'll see what benefit this has
in just a moment.

To begin have Bob shuffle the deck. Take it back from him and very casually count
sixteen cards into a pile. It should not look like you counted out sixteen cards so,
be subtle. Hand the sixteen cards to Bob to shuffle.

“Bob, I'm going to think of one of these cards. I'd like you to try and correctly
devine which card I'm thinking of. Clearly, that's not going to be easy so we're only
going to use about twenty-odd cards and we'll see how we go.”

Take back the cards from Bob and fan them all out in front of you. Scan the faces
and appear to decide on a specific card. Actually, you do nothing – don't
remember anything at all. Close the fan and shuffle all the cards again. Hand them
to Bob for one more quick shuffle.

“Give them another quick mix Bob. Now, before you look at any of these cards –
look directly at me. I'm going to scream my card at you – silently, in my mind – if
you pick up on a particular card let me know but don't say the card out loud.”

Stare intently at Bob for a few seconds. “Did you get one?” Bob says: “Yes.”

“Take a look through those cards – is it in there?” Bob might say 'Yes' but is more
likely to say 'No'. If he says 'Yes' – you've got lucky! Continue: “No way! Wow – ok
let's not get ahead of ourselves because we don't know if it's right yet. Let's do
this – keep that card in mind and shuffle all the cards up.”

If he says 'No': “It's not there? That's alright. It's easier when you're looking at the
cards so, go through them and see if one jumps out at you. Have you got one?
You're looking at one and you think that's my card? Ok, focus on THAT CARD that
you're looking at now – don't forget it. Let's do this – shuffle those cards.”

You can see that, if he says 'no', you have to labour a little and essentially get him
to choose another one but, I think it's worth doing for the times he does think of
one that's among the sixteen.

Take the cards from Bob and split them equally in half, placing eight cards on your
right and eight cards on your left, all face down. Note that you do not need to deal
them alternately (or faro) at this stage so, it can be quick and casual and again, do
not make it obvious that you're splitting them specifically in half.

“You think you know WHAT my card is. Let's see how you do with WHERE it is. Do
you think it's in this pile, or in this pile?”

Bob points to the pile on your right. You pick the right pile up and look at the faces
of the cards before continuing: “I'm not going to say anything. Look – the card you
think is mine – is it here?”

If Bob says it is you drop those cards on top of the pile on the left. If he says it is
not, pick up the pile to the left and drop on top of the right hand pile. (This is the
general rule of the binary sort. If he guesses the pile correctly, it goes on top of the
other, if he gets it wrong it goes under the other.)

So, let's say Bob says: “Yes – it is!”. Say nothing – just drop the pile onto the other
pile, pick up the combined piles and deal them out into two piles again – dealing
alternately as you would in a card game – first left then right, until the cards are
exhausted.

“So, clearly different cards in each pile – which pile is my card in now?”

They guess. You pick up that pile and look at the faces before then showing them
to Bob. Bob says he got it wrong – the card is not in that pile. So, you pick up the
other one and drop it on top.

“Ok, one final time. Again, notice different cards going into different piles.”

Deal out the cards again – aternately, starting on the left – into two piles. Again,
Bob guesses, you look at the cards briefly and then Bob tells you if he was right or
wrong and the piles are combined accordingly. If he got it right – they go on top, if
he got it wrong, they go under the other pile.

“There are a LOT of cards here but, just so you know, I checked and I saw my card
in the same place you did, every time. That doesn't mean we're home free of
course – there's a lot of cards here! I'm going to cut my card out of the deck...”

Here's the deal. The card that Bob thinks is yours is in either fifth or sixth position
from the top (if the packet is face down) of the packet. So, run through the faces
and cut the packet directly between the fifth and sixth cards remembering which
card comes to the face. Place the packet onto your hand, which is laid out flat like
a table. Now, you want to play this like you're not still not sure if it's worked or
not.

“Bob, this never really works but, you seemed to guess the piles right so...what
card am I thinking of?”

If he names the card at the face of the packet turn your whole hand over and
'BAM' the packet face up onto the table. This action has a real finality and looks
like that was your intention all along.

If he doesn't name that one then it's on top so slowly extend your hand towards
him and gently thumb off the top card a little. He'll turn that over and again, this
also looks totally natural, like you were always going to reveal the top card.

Either way, after Bob tells you which card he thinks is yours, I always follow up
with something like: “No way! You won't believe this!”. I think it's the kind of
effect where it shoulld be played like a crazy coincidence that even you can't
believe – just how did Bob do that!

Further Thoughts

John Bannon not only had the brilliant idea of expanding the number of cards
used in the binary sort from eight to sixteen but he also had the notion of your
participant being the one who guesses which pile it is in. I think this works
beautifully in the context of them trying to guess where your card is.

As mentioned earlier, this type of binary sort is usually done via an 'in the hands
Faro'. That is, out-jogging every other card in the packet and then stripping out
the out-jogged cards to create the two piles. There's absolutely nothing wrong
with that. When I do John's effect I do it exactly this way because, in that
particular effect the two potential candidates end up in the top and second from
top positions.

While playing around with the principle I realised that simply dealing the cards,
like poker hands, means that the thought of card will either end up in position five
or six. This could be useful for a number of reasons (using the principle in some
kind of 'card table' based routine for example) but I like it especially here as it
helps 'muddy the waters' in terms of whether you mean to show the top card or
the bottom card.

Incidentally, it appears to make no difference whether you deal the cards 'left
then right' or 'right then left' and indeed, it would appear that alternating for each
of the two deals (right/left then left/right) has no bearing either. With that in
mind, perhaps you might consider handing the cards to your participant to deal
the piles?

When performing John's effect, during the faro sequence I always point out:
“Notice that each time, before I guess, I'm ensuring different cards in each pile.”
This is my way of justifying the procedure, as though I'm meticulously ensuring
fairness. Spectator's will nod in agreement when I say this – happy to accept that a
method driven action was actually an 'all above board' measure. So, I do the same
in this effect when I deal the cards into piles – it looks and sounds fair so, why
not?

Credits

The method, as you've no doubt realised, owes a lot to John Bannon's 'Sort of
Psychic' from his excellent book, 'Destination Zero'.
See 'Sort of Psychic', Destination Zero by John Bannon, 2015.

© Copyright Dave Forrest and Full 52 Productions 2016.

Please don't copy it, scan it, upload it or distribute it. Thanks.