Magician's Choice..
I consider this one of the most important tools a good magicians can have in his repertoire of magic..
The Magician's Choice is a 'force' that allows you to control the card that a spectator picks. By carefully controlling a 'process of elimination', you will end up with exactly the card YOU want the spectator to have..
I will try to keep this simple..
There are no hard and true rules for a magician's choice. I sometimes make the rules up as I go, since the results are the same regardless.
Let's say I want you to have the five of hearts. This may be to fufill a prediction I have wrote beforehand, or to reveal a card chosen by a spectator.
Example:
As I look through the deck I ask you to name a card, any card. You name the five of hearts and I quickly locate the FOH, hand it to you to examine, and then drop it back on top of the deck. I perform a FALSE CUT, leaving the FOH on top. Now, I shuffle the deck several times, being careful to leave the five of hearts on top. Sometimes I deliberately get a card or two in front of the five on the last shuffle...
If I know that the five is the second card down, for example, I would show you the bottom card and ask you if that is your card. You say NO. I show you the top card and ask if that is your card. Again, you say No, and I stick it into the deck as I say something like " Well, we know your card is not on top or bottom, but is actually somewhere 'lost' in the deck".
It's not....
I know that it is now back on top of the deck.. or perhaps the second card down. It doesn't matter as long as I know where it is...
Let's assume it's the second card from the top.
I would cut the deck into four stacks, and lay them out in a row. I would now begin the force...
With the four stacks in front of you, I would ask you to pick two stacks. If you started to pick a stack up, I would just say " You don't have to pick them up... just touch two stacks".
If you picked two stacks that do not contain your chosen card, I would pick up those two stacks and say " Good choice.. we will eliminate these..", as I pick them up and sit them to one side.
If you picked one of the stacks that contains your chosen card, I would pick those two up, making sure that I pick up the one with your card first, so I would continue to know exactly where your card was located. I would push the other two stacks aside..
Either way.. I end up with half of the deck in my hand, and your chosen card on top ( or close to it..)
I would go through the same process once again, using the half of the deck in my hand to form three or four small stacks. Keep and/or eliminate stacks until you are down to one stack - the stack containing the chosen card.
At this point, I would probably lay all the remaining cards out on the table, being careful to keep my eye on your card, and let you start picking individual cards. If there are ten cards laying on the table, I would ask you to pick five cards. Again, either keeping or eliminating cards, depending on what I need to do..
If there were five cards left, I would ask you to pick three. After eliminating the cards that are useless, I will now have either two or three cards on the table, depending on whether your card was among the cards you picked.
If there are three cards left, I would ask you to pick two so I can end up with only two cards on the table. I like to eliminate all the cards except two.
When I ask you to pick one last card and you choose the other card, I push that card to one side and say "OK, we're left with only one card..." . If you pick your card, I say " You could have picked this card, but you didn't.." as I turn the odd card over..
Now I'm ready to reveal the card I have carefully 'forced' you to pick through what is called the 'Magician's Force'..
I consider this one of the most important tools a good magicians can have in his repertoire of magic..
The Magician's Choice is a 'force' that allows you to control the card that a spectator picks. By carefully controlling a 'process of elimination', you will end up with exactly the card YOU want the spectator to have..
I will try to keep this simple..
There are no hard and true rules for a magician's choice. I sometimes make the rules up as I go, since the results are the same regardless.
Let's say I want you to have the five of hearts. This may be to fufill a prediction I have wrote beforehand, or to reveal a card chosen by a spectator.
Example:
As I look through the deck I ask you to name a card, any card. You name the five of hearts and I quickly locate the FOH, hand it to you to examine, and then drop it back on top of the deck. I perform a FALSE CUT, leaving the FOH on top. Now, I shuffle the deck several times, being careful to leave the five of hearts on top. Sometimes I deliberately get a card or two in front of the five on the last shuffle...
If I know that the five is the second card down, for example, I would show you the bottom card and ask you if that is your card. You say NO. I show you the top card and ask if that is your card. Again, you say No, and I stick it into the deck as I say something like " Well, we know your card is not on top or bottom, but is actually somewhere 'lost' in the deck".
It's not....
I know that it is now back on top of the deck.. or perhaps the second card down. It doesn't matter as long as I know where it is...
Let's assume it's the second card from the top.
I would cut the deck into four stacks, and lay them out in a row. I would now begin the force...
With the four stacks in front of you, I would ask you to pick two stacks. If you started to pick a stack up, I would just say " You don't have to pick them up... just touch two stacks".
If you picked two stacks that do not contain your chosen card, I would pick up those two stacks and say " Good choice.. we will eliminate these..", as I pick them up and sit them to one side.
If you picked one of the stacks that contains your chosen card, I would pick those two up, making sure that I pick up the one with your card first, so I would continue to know exactly where your card was located. I would push the other two stacks aside..
Either way.. I end up with half of the deck in my hand, and your chosen card on top ( or close to it..)
I would go through the same process once again, using the half of the deck in my hand to form three or four small stacks. Keep and/or eliminate stacks until you are down to one stack - the stack containing the chosen card.
At this point, I would probably lay all the remaining cards out on the table, being careful to keep my eye on your card, and let you start picking individual cards. If there are ten cards laying on the table, I would ask you to pick five cards. Again, either keeping or eliminating cards, depending on what I need to do..
If there were five cards left, I would ask you to pick three. After eliminating the cards that are useless, I will now have either two or three cards on the table, depending on whether your card was among the cards you picked.
If there are three cards left, I would ask you to pick two so I can end up with only two cards on the table. I like to eliminate all the cards except two.
When I ask you to pick one last card and you choose the other card, I push that card to one side and say "OK, we're left with only one card..." . If you pick your card, I say " You could have picked this card, but you didn't.." as I turn the odd card over..
Now I'm ready to reveal the card I have carefully 'forced' you to pick through what is called the 'Magician's Force'..
-- Magician's Choice --
( Critical Sleight )
( Critical Sleight )