Copyright © 2022, Vanishing Inc.

and Matt Baker

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission
from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Single-Fried
I really like this trick. It has fooled some very knowledgeable magicians, and if
you’re not already somewhat familiar with the underlying principle(s) I think it’s
almost impossible to figure out. The presentation offers a number of opportunities
for engaging in fun and spontaneous interactions with the participant.

Notes
1. The only time this trick has ever gone wrong for me is when I forgot to pick
up the cards from RIGHT to LEFT when secretly stacking the deck. Don’t make
that mistake!

2. Below is a picture of Sierpinski’s Triangle, the fractal shape from which the
Sierpinski Principle gets its name.

Credits
This is a new version of the trick “Triple-Fried”, from my book The Buena Vista
Shuffle Club. That trick was originally inspired by Alex Elmsley’s “Animal,
Vegetable, and Mineral”, published in “The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley”,
Volume 2. Max Lukian provided the inspiration for switching from a 27-card
stack to an 18-card stack, and the idea for setting up the stack on the fly comes
from Juan Tamariz’s impromptu version of “Triple Coincidence”, explained in
Disc One of the DVD set “Magic from my Heart”.
Pile Driver 2.0
The only setup for the trick is that you want to begin with two cards whose values
add up to 21 (e.g. a Queen and a 9) on the FACE of the deck. You can set this up
under the guise of removing and setting aside the two jokers, or — if your deck
doesn’t have jokers — the two black Jacks (for example).

After you count 27 cards to the table and hand them to a spectator to be shuffled,
give the remaining packet a casual overhand shuffle, ending up with one of the
force cards on TOP and the other one on the BOTTOM.

Now go into the Gemini Twins procedure. Set this packet aside for later, retrieve
the packet of 27 cards that’s just been shuffled, and have a card peeked (and
secretly glimpsed by you).

In the three rounds of dealing, the target packet (containing the spectator’s card)
goes on the BOTTOM, then the TOP, then the BOTTOM again.

Credits
• This is a reimagined version of “Pile Driver” from my book The Buena Vista
Shuffle Club.

• The idea behind the 21-card trick goes back to Horatio Galasso in 1593.
Gergonne’s principle goes back to a 1769 tome by Edmé-Gilles Guyot and is
described, for example, in Martin Gardner’s book “Mathematics, Magic, and
Mystery”.

• Ryan Schlutz’s “Pivotal Peek” was originally published in his book “Making
the Cut”. It is also available as an instant download at Penguin Magic: https://
www.penguinmagic.com/p/9396

• The Gemini Twins forcing procedure is often attributed to Karl Fulves, but the
idea goes back to Ted Annemann (Jinx, 1937) and Herb Rungie (Jinx, 1940).
Free Sandwiched
Here’s a summary of the procedure for the trick:

1. If you’re using two jokers, and they’re mixed into the deck, then as you go
through the face-up deck to locate the jokers, sight-count 26 cards so that you’re
later able to split the deck exactly in half. (Just remember not to count the jokers!)
It’s better if you make sure before beginning that there’s at least one joker in the
top half of the deck, since otherwise you’ll remove both jokers early on and you
won’t have a good reason to keep spreading (and secretly counting).

If you’re using two jokers which you’ve already removed from the deck, then
come up with an excuse to spread through the face-up deck, such as making sure
that the deck is complete. (This is what I did in the video.)

2. If you’re using a pair of mates instead of jokers, make sure at least one of the
mates is located in the top half of the deck. As you go through the face-up deck
to locate the two desired mates, sight-count 25 cards so that you’re later able to
split the deck exactly in half. (Remember that the deck minus the two mates only
consists of 50 cards, not 52.)

3. Split the deck in half, give half to the participant to shuffle, and keep half for
yourself. As you shuffle your half, what you’re really doing is getting a break
under exactly 10 cards. One way to do this is to run 10 cards singly, in-jog the
next card, and then shuffle off. Pick up at the in jog, shuffle off, and then throw
the remaining 10 cards on top while secretly keeping a pinky break below these
cards.

4. You and the spectator each lift off a packet of cards and hold it to your chest;
you of course lift off at the break. Place the ten cards which are against your chest
onto the spectator’s packet, then have the spectator place the cards which are
against her chest onto your packet. Now have the spectator place her combined
packet onto yours. (This is an application of the Free Cut Principle.)
5. Cut 10 cards from the top to the bottom. The way I do this is using a controlled
version of the Charlier shuffle, as explained in the video.

6. Place the two face-up mates (or jokers) onto the top of the deck, then give the
deck a one-handed cut, cutting about a quarter of the deck from the bottom to
the top.

7. Give the deck a perfect out-faro shuffle.

8. Spread through the face-down deck. Spot the card which is two above the first
face-up card and cull it in-between the two face-up cards. As you do this, up-jog
the face-down card which is already in that position.

9. After revealing the spectator’s selection, hand the deck to the spectator and
have her find your card sandwiched between the two face-up cards in her own
hands — as if by magic.

Credits
• This is my version of Luis Otero’s “Re-Sandwiched”, which can be found on
his DVD “Cartificios”.

• The Free Cut Principle was first utilized in print by John P. Hamilton in 1948.
It was independently re-discovered and popularized by Gene Finnell in 1967.
Twice as Nice
This is my impromptu version of Simon Aronson’s “Twice as Hard”. Here is a
quick summary of the mental gymnastics required to do the trick:

The first spectator (let’s call her ‘Adele’), who is sitting to your left, names a number
between 10 and 20 — call it ‘A’. The second spectator (let’s call him ‘Bono’), who is
sitting to your right, names a number between 35 and 45 — call it ‘B’. You might
wish to write these two numbers down on a piece of paper to make it easier for
everyone to remember them later on.

Remember the numbers: X = 52 - B and Y = A. (Note: if you’re not using a full

deck, then X = N - B, where N is the number of cards in the deck.)

Count down X cards and remember the card at that position (call it ‘Key 1’). Then
count down Y cards and remember the card at that position (call it ‘Key 2’). I use
mnemonics to remember these two key cards (see the section on “Mnemonics”
later in these notes for details).

The first spectator’s cutting range is between X and X + Y. The second spectator
needs to cut past X + Y.

Doing it With a Memdeck

If you are using a memorized deck, you can skip Step 3 entirely, where you count
down in order to glimpse and remember the two key cards. In this case, your key
cards will be the cards with stack numbers X and X + Y. This makes the handling
notably cleaner, at the expense of not being able to legitimately shuffle the deck.

If you want to reset the stack, make sure to do the counting face up when you
count down to positions A and B at the end of the trick. Deal the first A - 1
cards into a face-up pile (which we’ll call Pile 1), and then deal the next card (at
position A) face-down in front of Adele. Continue counting with A + 1 and deal
into a face-up pile (which we’ll call Pile 2) until you reach B - 1, dealing the next
card (at position B) face-down in front of Bono. Set the remainder of the deck
(Pile 3) face-up to the side. Turn over the two selections and take your bow.
To reset your memorized stack, place Bono’s selection face-up onto Pile 2 and
casually cut the pile so that the card with stack number 52 is at the face. Place
this packet face-down onto the table. Now place Adele’s selection face-up onto
Pile 1 and casually cut Pile 1 so that Key 2 (the card with stack number X + Y) is
at the face. Place this packet face-down onto the tabled Pile 2. Pick up Pile 3 and
place it face-down onto the combined packet (Pile 1 + Pile 2), and you’re back in
memorized order.

Fixed Positions
The most popular application of Simon Aronson’s UnDo Influence principle
is his trick “Prior Commitment”. This is significantly easier to perform than
“Twice as Nice”, because the locations of the selections at the end of the trick are
fixed in advance, rather than being dependent on the spectators’ free choices.
Understanding the math behind “Twice as Nice” will nevertheless help you
remember where to place the Jokers in the secret (advance) setup for “Prior
Commitment”. If you want the spectators’ selections to end up at positions 18
and 43, as happens in “Prior Commitment”, then you should count X = 9 (= 52
- 43) cards, insert the first face-up Joker in position 10, then count Y = 18 cards
and insert the second face-up Joker in position 29.

As another example, if you wanted the spectators’ selections to instead end up at

positions 19 and 44 (as in Simon Aronson’s trick “Two by Two”, from his book
“Art Decko”), you should count X = 8 (= 52 - 44) cards, insert the first face-up
Joker in position 9, then count Y = 19 cards and insert the second face-up Joker
in position 29.

Credits
Simon Aronson’s ”Twice as Hard” was originally published in his 2001 book “Try
the Impossible”. The first third (more or less) of that book is a treatise on the
UnDo Influence principle. The Undo Influence principle was itself inspired by
an Alex Elmsley effect called “No-Calc”. It is closely related to (but more flexible
than) Mike Powers’s PM Principle, published by Mike Powers in the booklet
“The PM Principle” in 1990. Josh Jay’s “Fractal False Cut” is a variation on a
family of false cuts pioneered by Lennart Green.
Scripted Will
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players…”
— William Shakespeare, As You Like It

In the Masterclass video, the script I used for this effect was slightly different from
the one I’m currently using. The one I’m including in these notes incorporates
some refinements I’ve made since we recorded the videos. The most important
change is that, after the spectator places one of the objects in their pocket, I
bring attention to the two objects left on the table and refer to them as their
‘preferred objects’. This helps avoid any possible confusion later on when I give
the instruction to swap the current positions of those two objects.

In the video, I say something like, “The two objects you initially left on the table
— please switch their current positions.” I found, however, that spectators would
occasionally find this instruction confusing. Giving these objects a ‘label’ (the
‘preferred objects’) helps reduce the possibility of confusion.

Without further ado (or is it much ado about nothing?), here is a detailed set
of instructions for the most current version of “Scripted Will”, including the
complete prediction that I use.

Performance
The magician is seated at a table across from the spectator.

“I’ve been studying magic, and observing how people make choices, for so long that
I’m almost able to script life like it’s a play. In fact, I’ve written a little play about
some decisions you’ll be making in a moment, and I have a line of dialogue for you
to hold onto: it’s the last line of the play. Keep it safe until later.”

The magician takes out a folded paper, upon which is written, “The Ending”. He
hands it to the spectator for safekeeping.

“Now I’d like to introduce the props which are used in my play.”
The magician brings out three objects: a ring, a watch, and a phone. He places
them in a row in front of the spectator and then turns around.

“Our play begins with my head turned away, so that I have no way of knowing what
decisions you’ve made. Please take one of the three objects and put it in your pocket.
Try not to let me influence you in any way.” The spectator does this.

“Now look at the two objects you’ve chosen to leave on the table. We’ll refer to them
from now on as ‘the preferred objects’. Push one of those preferred objects towards
me, and leave the other one in front of yourself.” The spectator does this as well.

The magician, still with his head turned, says: “Interesting... something doesn’t feel
quite right, though. Dammit, I really want the ending to be perfect. Try switching
the positions of the ring and the watch.” The spectator does as requested.

“No, that’s DEFINITELY not right. Do you remember which ones were your
‘preferred objects’? Say their names silently in your head. Yes, they’re out of order!
Please swap their current locations.” The spectator complies.

“Yes! Now everything should match. We won’t be making any more changes, so I’ll
turn around now.”

The magician takes a look at the table and points to the folded paper that the
spectator is holding. “Please unfold the piece of paper and read the ending I wrote
for you.”

The spectator unfolds the paper and reads what’s written inside:

“I HAVE THE RING. YOU HAVE THE WATCH. AND THE PHONE IS IN
THE POCKET.”

Needless to say, this is exactly the situation at this point.

The magician continues, “You may be thinking that I somehow discerned your
initial choices and then adjusted accordingly to make the ending work out. However,
I can assure you that it was ALL predetermined. In fact, EVERY line of dialogue I’ve
spoken since the trick began is written right here in the full script for the play. [The
magician unfolds the paper further, revealing a full script.] I’ve even highlighted
the parts where I pretended to mess up.”

The unfolded piece of paper contains the following script.

 Scripted Will
A Play by Matt Baker

The magician places a ring, a watch, and a phone on the table, then turns his
head to face the other direction.

“Our play begins with my head turned away, so that I have no way of knowing what
decisions you’ve made. Please take one of the three objects and put it in your pocket.
Try not to let me influence you in any way.”

“Now look at the two objects you’ve chosen to leave on the table. We’ll refer to them
from now on as ‘the preferred objects’. Push one of those preferred objects towards
me, and leave the other one in front of yourself.”

“Interesting... something doesn’t feel quite right, though. Dammit, I really want the
ending to be perfect. Try switching the positions of the ring and the watch.”

“No, that’s DEFINITELY not right. Do you remember which ones were your
‘preferred objects’? Say their names silently in your head. Yes, they’re out of order!
Please swap their current locations.”

“Yes! Now everything should match. We won’t be making any more changes, so I’ll
turn around now. Please unfold the piece of paper and read the ending I wrote for
you.” The paper is unfolded. It says:

“I HAVE THE RING. YOU HAVE THE WATCH. AND THE PHONE IS IN
THE POCKET.”
Explanation
The above is ALMOST how the trick plays out every time. Thanks to the Green
Neck System, the spectator will ALWAYS end up with the phone in his pocket (no
equivoque!). That leaves just two possibilities: the spectator has the ring and the
magician has the watch, or vice-versa. The former possibility is the one explained
above. In the latter situation, instead of saying, “Please unfold the piece of paper
and read the ending I wrote for you,” the magician says, “Please unfold the piece of
paper and hand it to me.” The MAGICIAN then reads the prediction, rather than
the spectator. Everything else is exactly the same every time.

Credits
• The method is a combination of Deddy Corbusier’s “Free Will” principle and
Gabriel Werlen’s “Green Neck System”, with the latter used to eliminate all the
preliminary equivoque in the former.

• My presentation owes a large debt of gratitude to The Jerx, from whom part
of the opening paragraph of my script has been borrowed -- see https://www.
thejerx.com/blog/2015/10/8/dear-mentalists-i-love-this-website

• The idea to end the routine with a “transcript” of the entire trick was inspired
by a (totally different) unpublished routine I saw Tyler Wilson perform at
Pebblepalooza in May 2018.
Mnemonics for
Remembering Key Cards
In the trick “Twice as Nice”, you need to remember multiple key cards while also
doing other things. This can be challenging in real-world situations, so I find it
helpful to employ a mnemonic device that I first learned from Simon Aronson. I
will explain this here, and then in the notes for Masterclass #2 I’ll discuss how to
build on these mnemonics in order to memorize an entire deck of cards.

Let’s assume, for the sake of concreteness, that our goal is to remember two key
cards (which is exactly the situation in “Twice as Nice”). The basic idea is that,
rather than trying to remember two playing cards, we will instead remember two
words. This is much easier — at least for me, and I think you’ll find it to be the
case for you as well.

The Phonetic Alphabet

How do we associate a word to each playing card? Well, you first need to translate
each digit 0-9 into a phonetic sound. The system we’ll use for this is called the
Major System, a phonetic memory system that dates back to the 16th and 17th
centuries. It goes like this:

Numeral Associated letters / sounds

0 s, soft c, z
1 t, d, th
2 n
3 m
4 r
5 l (ell)
6 ch, sh
7 k, hard c, hard g
8 f, ph, v
9 p, b
It will take some practice to learn the Major System by heart, but I strongly
encourage you to give it a try. It comes in handy for all sorts of things. (See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system for some mnemonics
for learning these mnemonics(!), as well as links to books and articles containing
more information).

We will combine this with the following very simple and intuitive mnemonics
for suits:

Suit Associated letters

Clubs hard c
Hearts h
Spades s
Diamonds d

In this way, we can turn each playing card into a word. For example, the 4 of
Clubs becomes ‘car’, because Clubs = c and 4 is represented by ‘r’. (We will always
put the suit first and then the value; vowels and silent letters can be inserted at
will in order to make words.) Similarly, the 8 of Hearts becomes ‘hive’, because
Hearts = h and 8 is represented by ‘v’, and the Ace of Diamonds becomes ‘date’,
because Diamonds = d and Ace (= 1) is represented by ‘t’.

Of course, you can also make other words from these playing cards, for example
‘core’ instead of ‘car’ or ‘half ’ instead of ‘hive’. You’re free to use whatever words
you want; however, in order to avoid having to think too much on your feet, it’s
useful to memorize a list of pre-determined words that you’ll use every time. (This
list becomes particularly important when you want to use similar techniques to
memorize an entire deck.)

Card Key Words

The following table, adapted from Simon Aronson’s booklet “A Stack to
Remember” (and reprinted in the book “Bound to Please”), contains a list of
52 words, one for each playing card, following this system. Note that there are a
handful of playing cards which break the pattern, most notably the face cards —
these will require some hardwiring into your memory. The other 40 cards follow
a more regular pattern.
 Clubs Hearts Spades Diamonds
Ace CaT HaT SeaT DaTe
2 CaNe HoNey SwaN DiNe
3 CoMe HaM SwiM DiMe
4 CaR HaRe SoRe DooR
5 CoaL HeeL SeaL DoLL
6 CaGe HaSH SaSH DouCHe
7 CoCK HoG SuCK DuCK
8 CoFFee HiVe SaFe DeaF
9 CoP HiPPo SoaP DoPe
10 CaSe HoSe SeeSaw DaiSy
Jack Club Heart Spade Diamond
Queen Cream Queen Steam Dream
King King Hinge Sing Drink

So, if your key cards are the 7 of Hearts and the Queen of Spades, instead of
trying to remember those two cards you just remember the phrase ‘Hog Steam’.
That might not make any sense, but that’s OK: say ‘Hog Steam’ three times in a
row in your head and I bet you’ll still remember it a few minutes later. You might
notice that some of the words in the above table are a bit risqué. That’s a good
thing: the more outlandish the word or image, the easier it is to remember. If
your key cards are the 9 of Hearts and the 7 of Clubs, for example, you’ll need to
remember the phrase ‘Hippo Cock’. And I bet you’ll still remember THAT a long
time from now.

In the notes for Masterclass #2, I’ll explain how to build on this system in order
to memorize an entire deck of cards.