10 More of the Best Self-Working Card Tricks in the World

Self-working card magic is often unfairly denigrated or overlooked. But it's not fair to dismiss the entire genre by generalizing from the mathematical atrocity we may have learned from our grandfather, or from the many painful self-working card tricks some of us have been brutalized with in our childhood. The truth is that self-working card tricks can be amazingly strong, so you just need to find the right ones.

In a previous article I shared a list of ten outstanding self-working card tricks, which I consider to be the best of the best. But it's always tough to produce a list of "the best", when there are many other strong effects that could also have been included. So here some other worthy contenders, which on any given day could also make a Top 10 list.



FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS

● Contact Colors (Aldo Colombini)

This classic trick features three moments of increasing surprise: first there's the coincidence of two selected cards showing up at the same time, then four aces are revealed simultaneously, and finally there's the miracle of all the cards in the remaining piles being sorted separately as red and black. While this routine requires somewhat of a set-up and involves some longer phrases, it can be mind-blowing if done well, and it's hard to believe that it is even self-working. Some magicians even use it as a closer in their performances, given how strong it is. The surprising colour separation at the end is really amazing, and Colombini often used this as a highlight in his own lectures and performances.

Watch Iain Moran perform "Contact Colors":



● Neither Blind Nor Stupid (Juan Tamariz)

Two spectators both select and return a card to the deck, after which you repeatedly ask the question "can I know anything about the cards?" The spectators keep mixing the deck in various ways, without the magician even touching the deck, until it is conclusively demonstrated that the magician now cannot possibly know anything about where they are in the deck - and yet he does the impossible by identifying both of them. This trick needs a setup, good audience management during the performance, and is longer than most. But it incorporates active involvement of the spectators, and when combined with good showmanship, it is very entertaining, seems truly impossible, and can generate great reactions of astonishment. It's that good that it was even used as a successful fooler on Penn & Teller's Fool Us.

Watch Juan Tamariz perform "Neither Blind Nor Stupid":



● Further Than That (Stewart James)

The name of this trick becomes a key element in a growing series of surprises. Not only do you correctly name a selected card, but you go "further than that", and spell the name of the card to produce it. Going still "further than that", you reveal one pile of dealt card to be Aces, and the other to be Spades. As a final kicker, you "go further than that" and produce a royal flush in Spades. Not only does this effect have a growing number of revelations, each more impressive, but the concept also cleverly helps disguise the method.

Watch Michael Ammar perform "Further Than That":



● Impossible (Larry Jennings)

Your spectator selects a random number that they use to select a random card in the deck, and follows some instructions to completely lose it in the deck - all while you're not looking. You then replicate this procedure, to demonstrate that finding their card should be truly impossible. Yet when you deal cards to spell "impossible", you turn up the selected card! It may not be quite as flashy as some of the other tricks in this list, but it is a favourite for many, and can be done impromptu with a borrowed and shuffled deck. A good presentation that really emphasizes the impossibility of what is about to happen really helps it go over well.

Watch a UK magician perform "Impossible":



● Prior Commitment (Simon Aronson)

Two spectators each select a card by freely cutting to anywhere in a face-down deck. The deck is spread to reveal two face-up Jokers, and these each reveal the exact position in the deck where the two selected cards can be found. An added kicker comes at the end when the Jokers are turned over to show that the number of cards dealt has been written on their backs in advance. The principle behind this is self-working, yet is so deceptive, that it's rightly been said that you'll even fool yourself while doing it!

Watch Eddie S perform "Prior Commitment":


(begin around 1 minute in)

FIVE FAVOURITES FROM JOHN BANNON

John Bannon is a master of self-working and sleight-light magic. The thinking behind many of his tricks is devilishly clever, and the psychological elements of magic that he will introduce you to will stretch your mind and open up all kinds of new possibilities. "The Bannon Triumph" has already been included above, but his genius deserves a special section in this article, covering some more of his best. His trick "Twisted Sisters" and its closely related "Duplicity" are regarded as one of the top packet tricks of all time, but because they either use gaffed cards or some sleight of hand, I haven't included them here. His tricks can be found in his books, which are storehouses full of self-working treasures, as well as the excellent Move Zero series of DVDs produced by Big Blind Media. Here are some of his best, and my personal favourites.



● Dead Reckoning (John Bannon)

In mini-drama consisting of three phases, your spectator first chooses a card randomly, and shuffles it into a packet which they bury it in the deck. You deal cards one at a time, and the spectator is to mentally spell out each letter of their selected card, and then think "stop". Not only do you stop at exact the same moment as your spectator, but the card you arrive at is in fact their selected card! This is engineered and constructed cleverly so as to seem completely impossible, plus it has a unique way of revealing the selection - the best part is that the card you are holding in the end is your spectator's card.

Watch John Bannon perform "Dead Reckoning":



● 51 Fat Chances (John Bannon)

This effect is presented as a bet, where the spectator cuts the deck and then gets 51 chances to turn over cards in a search for a named card. At the end, remarkably the one card out of 52 that is not turned over is the chosen card. While somewhat procedural, it is justified by the spectator doing virtually all the card handling, and the presentation requires them to be the one finding one specific card. Not only is all the hard work is done by the spectator, but the procedure also helps disguise the the method of getting the selected card out of play until the grand finale. Tension builds at the ending, and the fact that this involves a slightly different procedure to narrow down the final few cards down to a single one helps makes it more interesting.

Watch Darren Wray perform "51 Fat Chances":



● AK-47 (John Bannon)

The spectator merely thinks of any card in the deck, and they secretly deal off cards corresponding to its value from a shuffled deck. Now you take a card from the remainder of the deck, and ask the spectator to find their card in the deck. But they can't find it - it's the one card you've removed! This trick does have an alternate ending, where you produce the mate of their card. Bannon provides a motivation for every detail of the actions necessary for the ingenious method, and the clever patter illustrates Bannon's brilliance at psychological deception, making the outcome always look like the intended result.

Watch John Bannon perform "AK-47":



● Power of Poker (John Bannon)

I have always loved the concept of a head-to-head game of poker, where you deal 10 cards to you and your spectator, with the spectator making all the choices about which cards to get. That's what happens here, and your spectator ends up with a full house, while dealing you a royal flush - no matter what they choose. Unlike many routines of this type, it cleverly doesn't use equivoque or a Jonah card as part of the method.

Watch John Bannon perform "Power of Poker":



● Collusion (John Bannon)

Two spectators each secretly select a number between from 1-20, and secretly deal down to that card to determine the suit and value of an imagined third card. When the spectators reveal the numbers they've secretly chosen and add them together, amazingly at that place in the deck is the very card created by the two other cards! This takes the principle of Gemini Twins to another level, and the overall effect is a variation on the popular Any Card at Any Number (ACAAN) effect, which is considered a holy grail of card magic. Super strong, and yet very easy to perform once you know the secret.

Watch John Bannon perform "Collusion":



Final thoughts

Not only are self-working card tricks easy to learn and perform, but they are ideal for focusing on your presentation. The ones listed here are all fine examples of the art of card magic, and compare very favourably with any card trick that relies on sleight of hand.

In recent years several great videos have appeared from Big Blind Media, which have helped self-working card tricks emerge from the shadows that they usually occupy. The terrific Move Zero series by John Bannon and the Ultimate Self-Working Card Tricks series (Vol. 4 was just released) are both fine examples of this exciting new trend in magic. To learn how to do some of the very best self-working card routines like the ones covered here, those are excellent DVDs to start with, and I highly recommend them.

Just don't make the mistake of being too dismissive of self-working card magic. Fine tricks like the ones above show that they have a tremendous amount of potential. Now that you're armed with a list of some of the very best, go hunt these down, and have fun with these and more!



Where to get started? Here are my top recommendations for the best instructional materials to teach you the best self-working card tricks:
● Books: Card College Light series by Roberto Giobbi
● Videos: Ultimate Self-Working Card Tricks series by Big Blind Media

Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.

For my personal choices of a possible all-time top ten, see my previous article here:
10 of the Best Self-Working Card Tricks in the World
https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......c=706023

For reference, here are my choices there (in no particular order):
● Out of This World (Paul Curry)
● Gemini Twins (Karl Fulves)
● Con Cam Coincidencia (R. Paul Wilson)
● Shuffle-Bored (Simon Aronson)
● Overkill (Paul Harris)
● Devastation (Geoff Williams)
● Play It Straight Triumph (John Bannon)
● Untouched (Daryl)
● Emotional Reaction (Dai Vernon)
● Lazy Man's Card Trick (Koran/Lorayne)

Note that I don't say that these are definitively THE top 10 of all time, but that they are 10 of the best.

Forumites, I have a question about Out Of This World that I didn't feel like was important enough to be its own thread.

I "learned" this trick from the How To Be A Magician DVD from ellusionist. Chris Ramsay just grabs the ace and moves right in front of God and everyone. Nothing subtle whatsoever.

Is that usually enough? I feel self-conscious just picking up the ace and moving it.

I have a couple ideas I'm working on, and I'm also working on a variation that can be performed during COVID-19 times (which means we can't rely on the spectator to pick up the second pile), but I'd love to hear other ideas.

How much can I "give away" about how *I* do it on this forum?

Once you've reached the 50 post minimum threshold, you can post about that kind of thing quite freely in the Secret Sessions sub-forum.

These lists are terrific, thank you for sharing them! Please keep doing these! I love self-working card effects, it's a shame so many performers shy away from them thinking they're "too simple," "long-winded," "lack visual elements" or are just "boring." They're such a great tool! As you said, they let you focus on your presentation and scripting, instead of focusing on the method (sleights), timing, and concealments/convincers. More magicians need to add a self-worker to their repertoire and learn how to entertain the audience and carry an effect with their presentation.

On a separate note, I'd love to hear your list for favorite impromptu card effects FASDIU!

It's great having this thread and your other one as quick references. So nice to have the videos embedded, as well. Great stuff, EndersGame!

Thank you for sharing this third article, it is very interesting !

Regarding self-working card tricks, one of my favorites is "Really!" from Harry Lorayne which can be found in his last book "And Finally!" (also at the end of "The Classic Collection 1").

That's a good trick for sure - you can see Harry himself performing it here at age 90, as part of his Jaw Droppers lecture in 2016:

Preconfiguration is also a great impromptu self card working trick. You can find it also in those great BBM DVD's.

Great trick indeed, thank you Gennovense for the tip !

For other people coming here, this is a demo of Preconfiguration that I found on Youtube :



(Note : the page linked in the video's description says that the free download offer expired in 2013.)

Best regards.

I think you mean Prefiguration by Jennings.
It can be found in The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings by Mike Maxwell.

That's one version of the Larry Jennings trick, yes.

The version that Gennovense is referring to, however, is Mark Elsdon's take on the Jennings routine, as found in Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks Vol 1. The actual title for the Elsdon version on the BBM DVD is "Pre-Prefiguration".

I'm not sure why Iain Moran's performance of the Elsdon routine is described as "Pre-Preconfiguration". That is indeed incorrect, and it should just be "Pre-Prefiguration". I'm guessing the MJMMagic accidentally mislabelled the video when posting that promotional clip with the performance.

No. That is not one version of the Jennings trick- that is the Jennings trick. It has spawned many variations.

Thanks for the correction and clarification.

There was a stacked deck trick in a specific order I forgot exactly, amazing effect. I forgot though I know the order from a screen shot (pic) though.

Heed Eugene Burger's essay- Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Sincere question: does "self-working effects" also include stack work? I love stacks now, but I view stack work and self-workers as separate branches on the same magic tree. What do y'all think?

If the stack makes the trick work without any moves in more than just a stacked way, I think both? Let me know what you think

I think that's a fair assessment Kaws. Self-working effects can still have some prior set-up, so a stack could just be considered a specific and elaborate prior set-up. I think you're right, stacks can be part of the method for a self-working effect and it can still be considered a self-working effect. I guess I just didn't think of a stack as viable for self-working given all the work that went into learning it... thought technically it was all work by myself, that's self-working in a different sense

A couple of examples from EndersGame's lists of self-working tricks -
Lazy Man's Card Trick
Neither Blind Nor Stupid
Both of these require a setup, but I i think most people would agree they can be considered self-working because they require no sleights.

But in both these cases the setup is very simple. I would argue this is very different from an effect that depends on memorising a full deck stack. That would not be self-working (even if sleight-free) because of the considerable effort required to memorise the stack in the first place.