Short cards

[Valko]

I have been making and using short cards in almost every one of my decks for 4/5 years now, and have come up with some (I believe) novel uses, aside from the usual key-card placements etc.

Are there any resources for learning more short card techniques? I'd like to learn some more. I've considered the "Miracles with a Short Card" DVD, but resources for stuff like that in England always grossly inflate the price. Is it worth buying a corner short book? I assume at least some of the techniques are transferable.

If it turns out that any of my techniques are completely original I'll probably release them on the wire (I'm fairly certain that at least one of them is completely original).

p.s. short cards are fab and I highly recommend them. I've fooled laymen and magicians alike. They are in my opinion, one of the most underused card techniques I've encountered

 

[obrienmagic]

Id suggest a book if you are on a budget. Amazon Create Space offers a free platform that you can self publish on. Very affordable and easy to use.

 

[Valko]

Any books you can recommend on short cards?

The idea of publishing something on the wire is feasible, but not the point of the post (sorry if I went on a tangent, haha). I already have a camera, so it wouldn't be a problem anyway.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I know Marlo has had his share of work with Short Cards. Don't know what books though.

 

[RealityOne]

Interesting. I've been researching and working on a bunch of ideas with Short Cards lately. More working with corner shorts and scalloped shorts. Feel free to PM if you want to talk effects and usages.

The main books are:

Hoffman's Tricks With Cards
Kapplan's Fine Art of Magic (OOP as you know)
The Secret Ways of Al Baker
The Jinx
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks
Greater Magic
Anneman's Full Deck Impromptu Card Tricks

I know Marlo has had his share of work with Short Cards. Don't know what books though.

Marlo's work on corner shorts is in his Advanced Fingertip Control Manuscript which isn't republished in any of his books. There also is some work in Marlo Magazine.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Interesting. I've been researching and working on a bunch of ideas with Short Cards lately. More working with corner shorts and scalloped shorts. Feel free to PM if you want to talk effects and usages.

The main books are:

Hoffman's Tricks With Cards
Kapplan's Fine Art of Magic (OOP as you know)
The Secret Ways of Al Baker
The Jinx
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks
Greater Magic
Anneman's Full Deck Impromptu Card Tricks



Marlo's work on corner shorts is in his Advanced Fingertip Control Manuscript which isn't republished in any of his books. There also is some work in Marlo Magazine.

Isn't fingertip control in RCT? Though I don't remember seeing shorts.

 

[RealityOne]

Isn't fingertip control in RCT? Though I don't remember seeing shorts.

It is. ADVANCED Fingertip Control isn't.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

It is. ADVANCED Fingertip Control isn't.

Sometimes I wonder if Marlo had too much time on his hands. Or not enough.

 

[Doug Henderson]

For years, I was the only magician I knew who used short cards! I have at least one in every deck I own. In fact, whenever I visit friends or family, I sneak off with their deck and cut one of the cards short. They will never notice, but I can borrow their deck and fry their brains! !

I discovered the short card many years ago, almost hidden in the middle of Mark Wilson's Cyclopedia of Magic. It's my favorite section of the book!

I've fooled other magicians SO bad with a humble short card!! One time, in the presence of a couple of pros, I had a spectator choose a card, handed him the deck and told him to put the card back in and shuffle the cards himself. I then proceeded to locate his card without even looking at the face of the cards. To a layman, it was just another card trick, but these two magicians threatened to not let me leave the room until I told them how I did that trick!

I use a short card to do an amazing Any 3 Cards At Any 3 Numbers: Three spectators choose 3 cards, the cards are returned to the deck one at a time and the deck is shuffled each time. Then the spectators choose 3 different numbers. Each card is found at each number! Minds blown! A short card is the secret! It's super easy and uses no math or slight of hand.

What I love is, I can watch other magicians perform a card trick, and more than half the time, I can do the same or similar effect, using a short card.

If you've never tried a short card, do it! If you're already a master of cardistry, you might not like the short card. And frankly, you might not need it. But if you're like me and you love to do bullet-proof magic that fools everyone, including magicians, without hours of practice, the short card is the TT of card magic. Hidden in plain sight and just as versatile.

 

[RealityOne]

Sometimes I wonder if Marlo had too much time on his hands. Or not enough.

I suspect the case is that he wrote down every idea he had... somewhere... regardless of whether it was good, bad, practical or impracical

One time, in the presence of a couple of pros, I had a spectator choose a card, handed him the deck and told him to put the card back in and shuffle the cards himself. I then proceeded to locate his card without even looking at the face of the cards.

Nice. I love shuffling with a short card or having a spectator do the shuffling. I do something similar applying a variation of part of the method from Intuition With Cards.

 

[Doug Henderson]

Another thing I do with short cards:

I put a red card (let's say, the 3 of clubs) in a blue deck under a short blue card, and a blue-backed 3 of clubs into a red deck under a red short card.

The decks can be shuffled openly in front of the spectators. The different colored backs won't show because the short cards ride along, hiding whatever card is underneath.

I let the spectator choose which deck we use. Let's say they chose the red deck. I Hindu force the 3 of clubs, show it to the spectator and then close up the deck. I shuffle it s time or two, then set it down.

I say, "Most magicians would use some sort of fancy card manipulation and find your card in that deck. But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I will find your card in the other deck, without even looking at the faces." The assumption is, of course, that I'm going to find the same value of card, matching the one they chose. That would be a pretty good trick.

I place the blue deck on top of the red deck, criss-crossed. I hold the stack and riffle up through the lower deck, then the top deck.

(This does nothing, but it will throw them off the trail. Especially later, when they try to work out how I did the trick. I want them to think I'm a master of slight of hand. If the decks never go near each other, they can work out that the red 3 of clubs was already planted in the deck and I forced them to pick it somehow.)

I then hold up the blue deck, facing the spectator. As I spread the cards, I pretend that I'm looking in their eyes for a clue. I let their card go by. But then I stop and go back. Finally, I push their red-backed card up out of the blue pack. This usually gets a great reaction. It looks it looks like I just read their mind, or at least their body language.

Beat.

Then I say that it was actually easy. I remind them that they chose from a red deck and that I told them I would find their card in the blue deck. "It's easy to spot a red backed card in a blue deck."

Still holding the cards spread, I slowly tilt them down and show the backs of the cards. They see their red -backed 3 of clubs sticking out of the blue deck. POW! Second punch! They're usually blown away.

The trick feels over. I wait a few beats. I want them to start to try to figure it out.

Then I say, "You know, decks need to be whole. When your card jumped into this deck, it's blue-backed match jumped down into the red deck." All eyes are on the first deck.

Beat.

I spread the first deck to reveal the blue card in the middle of the red deck. I let them turn it over. Third punch is a knockout!

 

[Valko]

I'm glad I'm not alone in my love of short cards!

Aside from the usual (key card placements, letting the spec shuffle etc.) I have about three tricks I use regularly. All of them use sleights I created (as far as I know) specifically for short cards. I find that short cards can act as a crutch, so I try to use them in tricks that require sleight of hand as well.

I'll also check out those book recommendations, thanks! I don't know what a scalloped short is though, haha. I've never used corner shorts though, I'll probably look into some stuff with those as well.