A Mind-Boggling Card Trick

Once your friend has a card in mind, ask him to watch as you deal all the cards faceup into three stacks. When you have finished, ask your friend to point to the pile containing his card.

After your friend has indicated which pile contains his card, gather all three stacks into one pile—making sure you “casually” place his pile between the other two. Don’t shuffle the cards.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times. After you have gathered the cards the third time, your friend’s card will be the eleventh card from the top of the deck.

Deal the cards facedown into four piles, counting silently as you go, so you know where the eleventh card falls (it should be the middle card in the third pile).

Now ask your friend to point to two of the four stacks of cards. If he chooses the third pile (which contains his card), set aside the other two piles. If he chooses two piles that don’t include the third pile, set aside those two piles. By having your friend choose two piles, you are tricking him into thinking he is making the choice.

Ask your friend to choose one pile from the remaining two. After he points to one of the piles, set aside the one that does not contain his card.

Deal the five cards from the remaining pile (formerly pile number 3) facedown in front of your friend. Your friend’s card will be in the middle. Ask your friend to pick two cards from the five. If one of the cards he chooses is the middle card, keep the two cards he chose and set aside the other three. If he does not choose the middle card, set aside the two cards he chose.

Repeat step 8, asking your friend to choose either one or two cards and eliminating cards until only one card (his card) is left.

It’s a nice touch to let your friend flip over the last card himself, to discover his selection. He’ll think you read his mind!