Card in Pocket

Effect:

The magician puts the whole deck into his pocket and eventually pulls out the one "freely" chosen card by the volunteer. This is a card in pocket prediction card trick.

Secret:

This is a psychological card force. First, look at either the top or bottom card in the deck and remember it. Or, better yet: Put a face card on the top of the deck and a number card of a different color on the bottom of the deck. If you want to get really sneaky, put a different card in your other pocket, perhaps a higher number than the one in the pocket with the deck. Don't let anyone see you put that card in there. Now you have three possible cards that will all work for the finale. This is a trick that will just work on it's own, with your attention, of course... and you never quite know which card it will be in the end, however your audience will think that you knew exactly what was going to happen the whole time.

This uses a great principle in magic that people never think about. Since they haven't seen the trick before, they have no idea what the ending is supposed to be. You can do a card trick and there could be a jillion different endings, but as long as you can convince your audience that the exact ending is what you had "planned" at the start of the show, you'll be revered as a great magician!

You will force them to pick this card. Here's how it works.

Choose a color...red or black.

Let's assume the card is the seven of diamonds. If they say red say Great! and move on. If they say black, say "Great! that leaves...Red..right"

"Okay red it is"

Now let's decide if we want it high or low. "When I snap my fingers you say high 7,8,9,10, Jack, Queen, King or low Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6"

If they say low, say Great! Low is elimanted! If they say Red, say "Great! Red it is!"

Are you getting the hang of this?

Then just have them name a few different cards in the last step. Proceed as you did above. Narrow it down to the one card.

Remember, stay excited about their choices, don't ever hesitate. Although this trick has a simple secret, it is very difficult to do flawlessly and without pause or hesitation.

Since it will appear that you are doing the same thing each time, you'll have to slightly modify the trick as it goes along. Make it appear as if your technique has changed each time, which will allow you to do the flip. For instance, point to another person in the audience, and say something like, "Okay, NOW, I need you to do something very similar... you get to pick red or black?". See how that sets it up that if you change what you are doing a bit, you don't have to explain yourself that you went back and forth on either including or eliminitating cards in the trick.

In the end, pull the one card out of your pocket as you pretend to feel around the shuffled deck for it.

Voila! The seven of diamonds!