Card tricks
It’s an old Internet magic trick, but I’ll admit the disappearing card trick got me the first time I saw it years ago.
Pick one of the following cards and remember exactly what it is.
This web site will now make your card magically disappear.
A deck of plastic playing cards are the best deck of cards you can buy. If you aren’t used to plastic cards it’ll take a bit of time getting used to how they handle, but once you do, you’ll notice a considerable difference from a normal deck of cards. At first they’ll be much harder to hold on to and will slide easier, but with more handling you’ll become comfortable in no time.
One of the main reasons they are better is because the cards last nearly forever if you take care of them. Plastic playing cards don’t bend like a paper playing card so you don’t have to worry about a crease marking the ace of spades. Since they’re plastic you can simply wipe the cards off if they get wet, which is great for cleaning the cards. This is unlike paper playing cards that are nearly useless after soaking up any kind of liquid.
The most popular name you’ll hear when plastic playing cards are being discussed is KEM. According to their web site, they’re “America’s Most Desired Playing Card.” I’ve seen KEM cards as well as other plastic playing cards and really couldn’t tell much of a difference between brands. They usually come in a set of two decks which will cost you a lot more than two decks of paper playing cards, but they’ll last you much much longer so the money is well spent. Simply do a search for “plastic playing cards” on Google and browse through the different options available.
Any regular visitors to Poker Chip Tricks probably noticed some changes that started over a month ago. Recently those changes became even more apparent as all of the Google ads were completely removed and other cosmetic changes were made.
Why all of the changes?
I’ve sold the site and no longer own any of the domains or content. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse and felt the time was right to get rid of the site. I’ve agreed not to come out and say exactly who bought it, but I’m very confident they’ll do a great job with the site. In the end, I think both parties received a great deal. The whole deal ended up taking nearly 4 months, which was about 2 months too long due to the lawyers battling back and forth. I learned a lot during the process and will be ready if I’m lucky enough to sell another site in the future.
I want to thank everyone who linked to pokerchiptricks.com at one time or another, which helped me get the site all the way to #1 on Google when searching for “poker chip tricks” and in the top 10 for “poker chips.”
If you’d like to help with my next site, you can link to http://docardtricks.com/ with the words “Card Tricks” as the link text. I haven’t done much with the site since it was launched, but I have a few new tricks planned which I hope to put out there soon.
I’m looking for new tricks to post at the Card Tricks site. If you have something you’d like to submit, get in touch.
I just launched a site to go with Poker Chip Tricks. It’s called Card Tricks and teaches you different tricks with a deck of cards.
The One Handed Drop Cut is a simple way to cut a deck of cards with one hand. This card trick might often be called by the simpler name of the “one handed cut.” The trick only has four steps and is very easy to learn.
The deck of cars is held along the long edges with your thumb on one edge and the fingers on the other side. Release half of the cards with your thumb and they will drop down into your palm.
Remove your index finger from the deck, move it below the dropped cards, and push up on those cards until they come in contact with you thumb. Once you reach this point, keep pushing and your thumb will release from the original cards.
These cards will drop down onto the fingernail and knuckle of your index finger. Lower the index finger so that the cards are resting on the fingers.
Move the thumb towards your finger tips, placing the cards held by your thumb on top of the other cards.
The One Handed Lift Split Cut is very similar to the One Handed Drop Cut with some variations to spice it up a bit.
Hold a deck of cards in your fingers so that the finger tips wrap just over the edge of the deck.
Use your thumb to lift up half of the deck. The other side of these cards is held by the middle, ring, and pinky fingers.
Slide your index finger underneath the half of the desk which was left in place. Push up on the cards with your finger until they come in contact with your thumb. This should happen just below the spot where your thumb is holding the other half of the deck.
Use your thumb to put a bit of pressure on about half of cards you just pushed up with your index finger. This holds those cards in place. Drop your index finger slowly so that the cards you didn’t put pressure on with your thumb fall down to their original location.
Move your thumb back towards the wrist, letting go of the cards which were lifted in the first stop of the card trick. These cards will fall back on top of the other cards laying flat. Now move your thumb towards your finger tips, causing the remaining cards to lower on top of the rest of the deck.
The One Handed Twirl Cut is a neat looking card trick. It is performed by twirling or twisting half of the deck of cards around and to the back of the other half.
To start the card trick, hold a deck of cards in your right hand. The thumb and middle finger are placed on the short edges of the cards. The index finger is held on a long edge of the cards and is about 1/3 of the length of the card away from the edge held by the middle finger. The ring finger is held in the middle of the other long edge of the cards.
Move the thumb to the lower corner of the edge it is holding. Separate half of cards from the deck with your thumb by lifting those cards up towards the top corner of this short edge.
Continue to raise the half deck up, using the index finger as an axis. As you do this, your pinky finger comes up to brace the corner of the edge being held by your ring finger.
Rotate your index finger as you lift the cards with your thumb, until you have the two halves of the deck side by side with the index finger in between the two halves.
Slide the top knuckle of your index finger along the edge of the left half of cards. You are really attempting to move the index finger behind these cards, but you need to slide it along so that the cards do not fall over. Once the knuckle passes to the back of the cards you can bring the other half of the cards (being held by the index finger and thumb) down and behind the original location of the whole deck. The middle finger releases from the left half of cards, which are now balancing on top of the index finger and being held in place by the ring and pinky fingers.
Move the index finger out of the way and use your thumb to move the cards all the way behind the original deck.
The Front to Back Cut is a card trick that will be easier to perform for people with larger hands. This is due to the fact that during the trick you are almost holding two lengths of cards in your hand. If the distance between the tip of your pinky and the tip of your thumb in a stretched out hand is not more than 7.5 inches you most likely will not be able to perform the trick as described here.
Hold a deck of in your right hand with the thumb on the right long side of the cards, the index finger on the top side of the deck, middle and ring fingers on the left side of the cards, and the pinky on the bottom of the deck.
Move your thumb down to the lower right corner of the cards. Separate the deck of cards into two halves. Raise the top half of the deck, using your index finger as the pivot point.
Keep moving the half deck up until the pinky, index, and thumb are just about in a straight line. During this time you also need to lower the bottom half of cards a little bit.
Move your index finger in towards the palm a fraction of an inch so that the cards being held by the thumb and index finger can pass by the other cards. Move the cards back towards the pinky finger with your thumb, making sure to pass them behind the cards that were not moved by your thumb. At the same time, bring up those cards just a bit to meet your thumb. The cards will move back into place behind the half of the deck which was previously the bottom half.
For a variation of the card trick, you can move the half into the middle of the other half instead of behind it. This will take a little bit more practice, but if done correctly the cards will actually be shuffled together a little bit instead of just simply being cut in the middle.
Nick Momrik 