This month most of the article will be a contribution by my friend Scott Cram from Las Vegas. With only minor editing, what follows was written by Scott himself.

Start with the deck in your memorized order. Get the card you wish to force to the top of the deck (this is done as usual, via estimation and correction). Perform Ed Balducci's "Cut Deeper" force. Set all the cards that are face-up onto your performing surface, still face-up, and set the forced card aside, facedown (the spectator hasn't looked at it just yet).

Look at the face card of the face-up pile, and recall the card that falls immediately AFTER that card in the stack (If you are using the Tamariz stack, for example, and you see the QH in the face-up stack, you know the next card is the 3D). Spread the remaining cards in your hand face-up, and look for the particular card you just determined (the 3D in this example). Break the spread so that all the cards from the determined card (the 3D again) to the face of the deck go into the right hand, and the remaining card are held by the left hand.

Drop the right hand's cards face-up onto the tabled pile, then pick this combined pile up and drop it onto the face of the left hand's face-up cards. This reassembles the deck into your memorized stack order, except for the spectator's card.

During this part of the sequence, I'll usually say, "You could have cut to any of these...” and cut this sentence off once I've found the determined card, and taken the appropriate break in the deck. I act like I just remembered the pile on the table, place it into the appropriate spot (although it should look like I'm just putting the cards back randomly in the middle), and continue, "I mean, you could have cut to any of THESE cards." You then have the spectator take a look at their card, and continue with the trick.

If, through this sequence, you've forgotten what the forced card is, you can simply look at the face card, and determine what the next card in your stack is (you don't even need a secret glimpse, because all the cards are facing you!). That will be the card that was forced. After the identity of the forced card is magically revealed, you simply place the card on top of the deck, double undercut the top card of your stack back to the top, and proceed with your next memorized stack miracle!

This great thing about this sequence is not only that it forces a card, but also with all those cuts that THEY themselves do, it creates a wonderful illusion of a well-mixed deck (in addition to any false shuffles you've thrown in)!

There is no trick in the above write-up, but I've found that this procedure can inspire some creativity. Here's one trick that I created after I discovered this idea:


The performer false shuffles the deck, and then has the spectator give the deck a straight cut. The performer says, "Normally, I'd have you take the top card after that cut, but let's dig a little deeper down in the deck to make sure your choice is truly random."

The procedure then goes on as above, and the forced card is discovered during the reassembly of the stack.

The performer then false shuffles the deck, and then, holding the deck in facedown dealing position, proceeds to turn the cards face-up one by one, and claims to be "memorizing the deck". After the performer has gone through all 52 cards quickly, they name the selected card, identifiable as the only one they never saw.


This is just a basic idea to help you see the possibilities. I hope you find this worthwhile. Feel free to use this in your column, Dennis!

-Scott

Thanks, Scott. I appreciate your contribution a lot, as I’m sure do all of the regular readers. And, Vegas will probably be the location for our gathering. Not sure of dates yet, but perhaps I’ll have something to announce in February as I plan to talk to as many people as possible at the World Magic Seminar in Vegas in January. If any of the regular readers of these articles plan to be there, please let me know. Perhaps we can organize a little get together and talk memorized deck work and discuss our little convention.

I’m happy to announce hat my first DVD is being replicated right now and that I’ll have the first batch before Christmas. It’s called the Dennis Loomis Knot Routine... Plus! I think it is the most comprehensive collection of magical knots and rope flourishes ever assembled on a single video. All of the standard knots are here and taught as clearly as possible, but so are a lot of rarer items that have never been on video before. Some will be thrilled to hear that Bill Spooner demonstrates and teaches his legendary SnapKnot for the first time on video. A couple of magicians that have seen an advance copy have said that this alone is worth the price of the DVD. For any of you that will be at WMS in Vegas in January, I’ll be there as will Bill Spooner. I’ll be happy to show you in person any of the Knots from the video and work with you. The DVD will be available at some of the dealer’s booths as well.