Effect

A card is fairly selected and fairly placed into the deck. Half of the deck is fairly shuffled face up into the rest of the face down deck. With almost no moves whatsoever, the fairly selected card is fairly shown to be the only face up card in an extremely face down deck. What could be more fairly?

Requirements

For this you’ll need a regular deck of cards, three kerosene-powered flashpots and some mango-scented Baby Wipes (just kidding; only one flashpot is used).

I loved this Triumph effect when I first tried it and, after playing with it for awhile, I simplified the handling (meaning: I couldn’t do Mr. England’s move) and cleaned up a couple of, what were for me, trouble spots. Now, it’s way easier to perform.

Presentation

Spread the deck on the table (which shows all cards face down) and have any card fairly selected. I promise not to use the word “fairly” again in this trick.

Pick up the deck and give it a decent lengthwise bridge by holding the cards in mechanics grip and squeezing them. Instruct the spectator to “Show your card around to everyone” which, curiously enough, also instructs everyone to look at the card. This is an excellent opportunity to half pass the bottom half of deck. It helps if you can half pass a teensy bit more than half (I shoot for 30 cards) of the deck.

Reality Check

The bottom half of the deck is now face up and, from your perspective, there’s a decent gap between the halves caused by the curvature of the cards. Squeeze the top and bottom of the front end of the deck to keep the gap closed so spectators won’t peer into it. Leave the gap open in the rear of the deck.

Slide selection into the rear of the deck, INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE GAP, and get a break above the selection. Say, “Your card will go into the bottom half of the deck because I have something special planned for the top half.”

Slide the cards above selection forward for half their length and turn them face up. At this point, all of the cards are face up except the selection.

Re-grip the face up block (give each block of cards a momentary flex to take the bridge out of them) and do an excruciatingly-fair and painfully-slow in-Faro into the lower block of cards. Make sure that the selection remains on top (if you were able to half pass 30 cards earlier, you’ll find that the Faro-ing cards will fit nicely into the lower block of cards). It doesn’t have to be a perfect Faro but it should be a clean one, if only for esthetic reasons. Insert the face up cards at a 45 degree angle so that their corners jut out from all sides of the face down portion. Show the deck’s edges fairly from a variety of angles while pushing the cards flush. Take care to NOT flash the bottom of the deck. Also, don’t let the single face down selection slide around to expose any face up cards underneath it (Remember: all of those cards are SUPPOSED to be face down). Take your time, pausing occasionally to stress how much more difficult it would be to strip out the face up cards each time the cards are squeezed more flush.

(For you trivia buffs: this is the first time in the history of Jeff’s online magazine that the phrase “squeezed more flush” has been used.)

Finally, tap the deck on the table, squaring it completely. Cut the deck to the table (or Classic/Jiggle/Turnover Pass or Midnight Shift or Charlier or your favorite cut or whatever, geez, leave me alone, willya) and spread the deck on the table to show the selected card is the only one reversed. Don’t step in spectator pee as they lead you around the room for a victory lap.

(For you trivia buffs: this is the first time in the history of the earth that the phrase “Don’t step in spectator pee as they lead you around the room for a victory lap” has been used.)

Credits

D.E. Triumphs!
by Don England
from Onyx, Issue # 8 (July 1999)
streamlined handling by Geoff Williams
Used with permission of Mr. England