Loaded Deck

[Mattxdfa]

I am currently trying to get a routine put together so when the time comes I can have a good patter down and know what direction I am headed with the effects I want to perform.

I few that I would like to do require that certain cards are in certain places and I am unable to shuffle the deck. If this isn't a trick I would like to open with does anyone have any advice on how to set the deck in a natural way, is it too shady to pull out a second deck and start using that? Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thank you

 

[RealityOne]

The simple answer is to preset the deck and perform effects that keep the deck in that order. It is relatively easy to maintain a stock of cards (up to 6) at the top or bottom of the deck and actually shuffle the deck. Alternatively, learn some false shuffles.

Or you can do a simple switch. Do a couple of card tricks, put your deck in you left pocket. Do a trick with something else. Take a deck out of your right pocket and nobody will realize you switched decks. Better yet, if you have a jacket, you can put one deck into your left jacket pocket and then take a different one out of the same pocket.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

If the deck is stacked or something, you can do the first tricks with whatever deck you want, then do a deck switch (as David said in his post).

Or bring out a second deck that is stacked, do a trick with 2 decks, then put the first one back.

 

[Mattxdfa]

Thanks guys, appreciate it!

 

[obrienmagic]

There are 2 ways to do this:

1. False Shuffle the cards
2. Deck Switch.

The first one is pretty obvious. Learn some shuffles and cuts that will not move the cards you need from their locations. This could mean you either need a full stock retention (none of the cards change position) like the Zarrow shuffle for example, or if you can get away with just keeping the top or bottom 6 cards unshuffled, you may be able yo just get away with a simple top/bottom stock retention.

The deck switch can be done in several different ways. You can either switch the deck during performance (for example maybe use a gimmick like "Switcheroo Deck Holdout" or "Cold Case) or you can simply set the cards aside, do another trick in between and then grab the other deck pretending it to be the first.