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David Blaine has made this trick very popular. He shows the spectator a card, the King of Spades. He places it, face down, into the spectator’s hand, and asks the person to sandwich the card between both hands.

He then shows the next card, the Queen of Hearts and rubs it face down over the sandwiched card, but when he turns it over, the audience are amazed to see that the card is now the King of Spades. The sandwiched card is then revealed to be the Queen of Hearts. The cards miraculously switched places.

Step One

The setup is very simple as you just need to prepare 2 of the same cards. The cards used in my demonstration are the King of Spades and Queen of Hearts, abbreviated to KS and QH, respectively.

On the top of the deck, the top three cards should go: QH, KS, QH. It does not matter about the order of the rest of the deck as only the first three are used.

Step Two

Ask the spectator to extend their hand. At the same time perform a DOUBLE LIFT with the top two cards. The spectator will be looking at the KS, but you will actually be holding the KS and QH behind it.

Step Three

Ask the spectator to name the card being displayed by you. When named, turn double over again so that the cards are face down with the QH on top of the deck. Then just place the top card onto the spectator’s outstretched hand.

It will be assumed that you placed the KS onto the outstretched hand, when it was actually the QH.

Step Four

Ask the spectator then to place the other hand over the card to sandwich it between both hands. Then ask whether the sandwiched card is still remembered. The KS should be confirmed.

Step Five

DOUBLE LIFT the top two cards while the spectator is still sandwiching a card between both hands. The spectator will be looking at the QH, but you will have the KS Card with the QH over it. Ask the spectator to name the revealed card. The QH will be named.

Step Six

You place the double back on top of the deck again. Remove the top card. The spectator will think it is the QH when it is really the KS. Then rub the KS over the sandwiched hands. After doing this ask “Did you feel anything?”

Step Seven

The spectator may be confused, but when the card is revealed and shown to be the one thought to be in the sandwiched hand, this person will be frankly quite amazed. Then the spectator looks at the card which was sandwiched between both hands, and it once again is amazed, as this is the QH.

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The Double Lift is in our option the most important sleight in card magic.
It is used in almost every card routine.

You will find many tricks that require the double lift.
To start off with, we will teach you the basic double lift.

We will be adding more double lift techniques in the time but we like this version the most because it looks very convincing and it’s the easiest double lift we know.

So now you know is vitally important to learn the double lift so let’s get going!
This double lift requires a break after two cards and there are many ways to achieve this:

You can either riffle off the top two cards or hold a break after two cards or, our favorite way of getting a break is, by playing like you are looking through the cards and on the way back get a break under the top two cards. This looks very natural and when talking at the same time to your spectators they won’t notice a thing.

So now your pinky is holding two cards (the double) on top of the deck but always make sure they are square.

With the right hand you then lift up the ‘double’ with your thumb and middle finger on the right side of the cards.

Turn the ‘double’ face up on the deck but still maintaining a break with your pinky.

After displaying the cards turn them back over again.

Tips for double lifts:

1. Practice, practice, practice…..

You will hear this many times on Sharkmagic.com!

It is crucial that you feel comfortable with your cards.

Just practice when you can throughout

the day eg in front of the TV,
in the bus, on the toilet, etc,
as the more you practice the better the results.
Practice is a key element to your success!

Even if you think you can do it in your sleep or even 1000meters under the sea while huge sharks attack you, you will still need to practice every day.

Another piece of advice: Have the deck next to your bed so that when you wake up you can immediately pick it up to reinforce your feeling for the cards.

We would like to forewarn you that you may have slight problems using the cards at the beginning due to the tiredness you feel in your hands but if you persevere by practicing throughout the day, every day of the week, you will notice yourself that you are progressing.

So now imagine how great it must feel when you are able to handle the cards well in the morning and how good you will handle them during the day. Strangely, we have the best card feeling in the evening, but this is because the body and brain are all warmed up.

2. Performing various double lifts

As previously mentioned, there are many double lifts.

There are even double lifts that don’t require a break but we don’t like these, as these kind of lifts look good but if you are nervous or you just make a little mistake you can expose the double by mistake.

Therefore we recommend learning double lifts with breaks as these not only look natural but give you a secure grip with a feeling of control.

Once you have prefectioned your lift, we suggest that you always use the same double lift throughout your routine, as it will look more natural.

3. Control the cards

It is imperative that you are sure about what you are doing. You need to be in control of the cards the whole time not the other way round. This means that you have to look natural and relaxed but you have to concentrate on the moves, without it being obvious to your audience. Additionally, it is important to remember this because if you stare at your hands or concentrate too much you can draw attention to what you are doing.

4. Positioning yourself

Double lifts aren’t very angle sensitive. This means, your audience can be in front, behind, or even on the sides.

The best way to do this lift is when the audience is in front of you so all you have to remember is to angle the deck more to your spectators.

Even if you wouldn’t have the audience in front, they probably wouldn’t notice that it’s a double but you should do everything to help conceal it. This is your secret.

5. Single card lifts (essential)

Your single lifts, double lifts or even triple lifts should look the same.
Practice turning a single card the same way as you do your double lift!

6. Movements

Smoothness in all sleights is far more important than speed.

If you do a fast move it looks like you’re up to something. Smooth, regular movements, without haste are much more effective.

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Queens Out Of Control is one of my favorite card routines. I use this trick almost every time I perform a magic show because it gets amazing reactions, uses no gimmicks, and is easy to carry around.
There is a little practice involved in the beginning, but you should get the whole routine down in about 20 minutes. Another great thing about these cards is that they can be totally examined after the presentation.

If you want to learn this trick you can find it at penguinmagic.com, however the cards aren’t made by Bicycle and they get worn out very fast.

When I first received the cards I practiced for about 2 days until I was feeling ready to show the effect to my friends and family, but by that time I had already worn the cards out! Currently these cards sell for around $20 which isn’t that bad, but I know that some of you want to own the real Bicycle cards, as seen in my video.

The quality of these cards is of course better and they will therefore last longer. If you are interested in owning the Bicycle Queens Out Of Control card set then please leave a comment below.

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Start with the deck face up in the left hand. Your left thumb lies along the left side and your fingers along the right side. You are holding the deck by its edges only. The left hand doesn’t do anything else in this effect; it just keeps the deck still.

• Bring your right hand over and slide the top card slightly forward. How far you pull it toward the audience will depend on how much of the next card you need exposed. You need enough to get contact with the heel of your hand. This will be clearer later.

• Your right hand should conceal the face card and deck so that most of the top card and all of the are hidden. The right hand is held with the fingers together and parallel to the face of the deck. Think of your right hand like a sliding door. It first slides forward (toward the viewers) and then backwards and then forwards again.

• As you slide it backwards (towards you), let the base of your right thumb- the meaty pad that would be used to grip a palmed coin- contact and pull the second card back with it. So, the hand slides backwards and the second card slides with it.

• Continue sliding. This exposes the top card again and pulls the second card far enough down so that it it is out from under the top one.

• You should now have almost all of the second card pulled off the deck under your right hand and most of the top card showing.

• Push slightly downward with the heel of your right hand and the second card will pop upwards into it. You don’t need to actually palm it, you just need it to clear the top card. The bottom edge of the top card and the top edge of the bottom card have to move past each other.

• Slide your right hand forward again, concealing the original top card again. This brings the change card on top as the right hand slides forward. Align the cards before you expose the change.

• To recap- the right hand covers the top card, slides back exposing the top card again, and then slides forward. You then pull your right hand away, showing the change.

Presentation Tips:

Show your right hand freely before it approaches the deck. Make the audience aware that it is empty without saying so.

The left hand stays still throughout the change. It serves as the ’stage’ on which the magic happens. The right hand’s action is almost machine like- forward, backward, forward, change…. Try to get all the moves to match both in rhythm and how you hold your hand.

There are two different ‘reveals’. In the first, you slide your hand off sideways and keep it frozen and stiff. The audience will suspect you have palmed off the face card. Wait a beat and then crumple your fingers and show the right hand is obviously empty.

The second reveal looks more magical. Instead of sliding the right hand off to show the change, just open the fingers wide in a sort of exploding starfish action. This makes it look as if the card changed immediately.

You can use both reveals in the order given by repeating the change. Just do a one-handed cut between so that a new set of cards is changed. Otherwise you will be just changing the same two cards.

Finally, when you perform this, tilt the deck down and towards the audience. This will hide the outer edge of the deck and prevent them from seeing that the top card is pushed forward on the get-ready.

This trick can be performed anywhere, anytime and you can use almost any small, flat object e.g. beer bottle tops, rings, soda can tabs, not just coins.

This is the trick: A coin or other object is rubbed into your elbow and vanishes into thin air.

This is best done whilst sitting at a table or a bar. Depending on whether you are left or right handed you may want to use the other arm.

Drop the small object onto the table. Bend your right arm and rest your elbow on the table, holding your hand up by the side of your neck.

Pick up the object in your left hand and start rubbing it into your right elbow.

After you have rubbed the object for a while drop it onto the table, as if it didn’t work. Then pick up the object with your right hand and pretend to place it into your left.

Bend your right arm again and as you start to rub with your left hand casually place the coin under your collar.

Then remove your right hand from your collar so that the audience will not get suspicious. Finally slowly open your right hand and show that the object has vanished.