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Amaze Your Friends With These Easy Card Tricks

Everyone loves magic tricks! And, below, we have some easy card tricks that you can learn for free and use to impress your friends and family!

Sleight of hand and other branches of magic like mentalism, coin magic, Zoom magic and even joining us at a magic convention can come after you've learned card magic basics. But it's good to boost your confidence while you practise with easy card tricks with tricks like these.

These 5 simple card magic tricks are super easy to learn for beginner magicians and are perfect for both kids and adults. In fact, some of these card tricks are used regularly by professional magicians like David Blaine and Michael Carbonaro. We hope you enjoy learning the secrets to these amazing card tricks!

1. The Key is in the Details

This effect starts by having your spectator pick a card and return it to the deck. You then make a magical gesture and reveal that a playing card has turned over. But, it’s not their card! Instead it’s a special indicator card that reveals the secret location of their selected card in the deck.

5 of Clubs peeks out of a face down card spread of dapper deck playing cards

The Secret

  1. Before the trick begins, secretly take any Five (we will use the Clubs in this example) and put the card face up, five cards from the bottom of the deck. So, from the bottom of the deck, there should be four face down cards and then a face up Five of Clubs (see photo above).
  2. Next, spread through the deck and have a spectator select a card, being careful not to expose the face up card towards the bottom.
  3. Once they’ve memorized their card, split the deck in half and place the top half on the table or perform a Swing Cut (photos 1-6) in your hands.
  4. Instruct your spectator to place their selected card on top of the half you cut off (photo 6) and then place the rest of the deck on top, effectively losing their card in the middle of the deck. Dapper deck playing cards are used to teach the swing cut, a basic card sleight for card magicians
  5. Make a magical gesture and explain how you’ve made one card “magically turn over” before slowly spreading through the cards.
  6. Don’t bring attention to the face up Five of Clubs. They will usually see it on their own and let you know that it’s not their selected card. At this point, you can explain how you actually turned over a special indicator card.
  7. Starting to the LEFT of the Five of Clubs, count Five cards and push the fifth card forward. They can then turn it over themselves and see that it is impossibly their selected card. A messy spread of face down playing cards with a five of clubs face up

Pro Tip: If you want to take things a step further, you can make the 4 other face-down cards in your secret setup be Aces instead of random cards. This allows you to have a bonus kicker ending where you not only find their card but manage to also find the four Aces as well.

2. Spectator Deals the Aces

  1. This is an awesome self-working card trick where all the magic happens in your spectator’s hands (something our lead designer and professional magician Michal Kociolek is a huge fan of!). From a seemingly shuffled deck of cards, your spectator will find all four Aces.
  2. Before you begin, place all four Aces face down on top of the deck. If you know a false shuffle or false cut (see below in The Amazing Rising Card Trick, below), now would be a great time to use it. If not, just casually turn the deck face up and show the audience that they all the cards mixed while carefully hiding the Aces from their view.
  3. Hand your spectator the cards and instruct them to cut the deck in four roughly equal piles, being sure to track where the top pile with the Aces lands (it's the packet all the way to the right in the photo below). 4 even piles of playing cards used in a magic trick
  4. Have your spectator pick up the pile farthest from the Aces pile (the one all the way to the left in the photo above) and tell them to move three cards from the top of the pile to the bottom. Then, have them deal one card onto the top of each of the three other piles before finally putting the pile back down.
  5. This process is repeated with each pile, ensuring that the Aces pile is used last.
  6. Once they have moved three cards and dealt three cards with each pile, you can then tell them to turn over the top card of each pile to find they’ve magically found all four Aces. The four aces appear on the tops of four piles of playing cards during a poker magic trick

Pro Tip: Try coming up with a fun story or reason to explain why your spectator is dealing the cards in such a specific way. Even something silly like explaining how it’s a “magical good luck ritual” you use before every poker game will help make the trick even more interesting. You can also build a little “magic routine” by then transitioning into a trick using the four Aces like the classic Twisting the Aces card trick which can be learned in Michael Ammar’s Easy to Master Card Miracles Volume 2.

3. The Amazing Rising Card

The problem with most “Pick a Card Any Card” tricks is that the selected card is usually revealed in boring ways. That is not the case with The Amazing Rising Card, a fun and easy card trick where a spectator’s chosen card rises out of a deck of cards on its own.

The Secret

  1. Start by using a basic card spread and having someone select a card and memorize it.
  2. Then, perform either the Swing Cut or regular cut as mentioned in the first trick and instruct the spectator to return their card as before (photo 1).
  3. However, this time, instead of dropping the top packet of cards back down flush, you’re going to do something a little different. Drop the cards softly so they land on the bottom half slightly injogged toward you. Then, allow them to fall forward as if you were trying to square the deck. Done correctly, the bottommost most cards should stick out towards you slightly (photo 2)—this shouldn't be seen by the audience.
  4. If you use your thumb to lift up under these cards, you’ll actually cut directly to their selected card (photo 3). So, in one fluid motion, take this top packet and place it on the table (photo 4) and then place the rest of the cards on top of it. While it looks like you’ve given the deck two fair cuts, what you have actually done is a perfect false cut that hasn’t disturbed the order of the playing cards. This also secretly moves their selected card to the top of the deck—making it a super easy card control that you can also use in a variety of other card tricks. Dapper deck playing cards are used to teach how to control a card to the top of the deck
  5. Now you’re all set up to reveal the card! Hold the deck up and down (perpendicular to ground) with the bottom card facing the audience (the photos below are an exposed view for clarification. The deck should not be held at an angle like this in performance.)
  6. Take your index finger and rub it over the top of the cards as if you’re squaring the deck and push down about one-third of the deck (photo 1). Your audience shouldn’t be able to see this.
  7. Touch your index finger to the top of the deck and lift it up, making sure the rest of your fingers are curled inwards. When nothing happens, look confused and say “Oh that’s right, you need to say which card you chose first!”
  8. After they name their card, place your index finger back on top of the deck. But, this time, secretly extend your pinkie finger so that it contacts the spectator’s card on the top of the deck (photo 2).
  9. Push your pinkie against the deck as you move your index finger up. If you have the right pressure, the selected card should rise along with your hand out of the deck (photo 3).
  10. Keep moving upwards until the bottom part of the selected card clears the packet of cards that you moved down at the start. Then, secretly slide the lower packet back up to align with the other half of the deck and give the illusion that the chosen card rose out of the middle of the pack (photo 4). A playing card rises out of the middle of a deck of cards as part of the classic rising card trick

Pro Tip: Be sure to practice the re-adjusting of the cards until you master it. The illusion of the selected card coming from the center of the pack is very deceptive if done right and helps transform this beginner magic trick into something truly powerful. A lot of magicians also use the concept of "static electricity" to explain why the card is sticking to their finger. If you like the rising card, you may also like the Haunted Deck.

4. Gemini Twins

Despite the spectator making a variety of free choices as they deal through a deck of cards, you’re able to impossibly predict which cards they’d randomly stop on in this classic mentalism card trick. This trick was invented by Karl Fulves, who published it one of his many great books on card tricks for beginners.

The Secret

  1. The most basic version of this effect can be done using an ordinary deck of cards that has been shuffled by your spectator. That means it’s a completely impromptu card trick that can be perfomed anywhere.
  2. After your spectator has shuffled the cards, fan through the deck facing toward you as you explain that you need to find two special cards. While you’re doing this, secretly glance at both the top card and bottom card of the deck and then find their “mates”. A mate is the same value card in the other same-colored suit (hearts/diamonds and clubs/spades). For example, if the Three of Clubs is the top card and the Jack of Diamonds is the bottom card, you’re looking for the Three of Spades and Jack of Hearts throughout the deck. Once you find them, slip them out and hold them in your hands without your spectator seeing their faces.
  3. Hand the deck of cards back to your spectator and instruct them to begin dealing the playing cards face down. Let them know that they can stop whenever they’d like. Once they do, place the card (Jack of Hearts) that matches the bottom card (Jack of Diamonds) face up on the pile on the table to “mark the spot where they stopped”. They can then place the rest of the deck on top.
  4. Then, they, or another spectator, can pick up the whole deck and resume dealing. Once again, they are allowed to stop wherever they want (make sure to emphasize how they truly have a completely free choice!). Once they stop, place the card (3 of Spades) that matches the original top card (3 of Clubs) face up on the pile and have them place the rest of the deck on top.
  5. Next, take a moment to recap what happened before spreading the deck face down. You will immediately see your two special cards facing up (photo 2), take each one out along with the card directly to it’s RIGHT (photo 3).
  6. Have your spectator turn over these cards and be amazed that you have perfectly predicted which cards they’d select by finding their mates before the trick even began! Playing cards are used to teach the classic gemini twins magic trick

Pro Tip: You could also use this method to force two cards that you have pre-written on a piece of paper or documented somewhere else like in a photo on your Instagram page. Just make sure those two cards are on the top and bottom of the deck (and maybe even perform a false cut or shuffle) before you begin. If you choose this presentation, you may also want to use Jokers or a business card as your marker cards instead of the “mates” to avoid confusion. You could even write the predictions directly on blank playing cards or the back of your business cards.

King of Clubs is written on the face of a blank playing card used in a card trick

The Free Drink Magic Trick.

Here is a sneaky bar bet you can use to win a free drink from a friend or co-worker at your next happy hour. All you need is a deck of cards and a good poker face!

The Secret

  1. To start, either shuffle the cards or let someone shuffle them for you. Once this is done, spread the cards face up and fan through them to show everyone that all the cards are completely mixed. As you do this, secretly glimpse at the bottom card of the deck. Don’t be obvious about this. A half-second glance is all that’s needed. This card will be your key card, and you’ll need to memorize it (we’ll use the Ace of Spades for this example).
  2. Next, start dealing cards from the top of the deck onto the table, instructing them to tell you to stop whenever they’d like. Once they do, turn your head and have them look at the card they stopped on.
  3. Once it’s confirmed they’ve seen and memorized their card, place it on top of the pile on the table and then put the rest of the deck on top. This places your key card next to their selected card—this will be important later!
  4. Emphasize how there is no way you could know their selected card, which is now lost in the middle of the deck. To make it even fairer, you can even let them cut the deck.
  5. Turn the deck face up and tell your spectator that you’re going to attempt to use your superhuman instincts or ability to read minds to find their card. Then, start dealing the cards on the table face up, instructing them to not say anything or react in any way if they see their card. However, they should scream “stop” in their heads when they see it.
  6. Once you see the key card (Ace of Spades) on top of the pile in your hand, you know that the last card dealt to the table was their card. However, for this bar scam to work, you have to keep going as if you still haven’t seen the card. Keep up the same pace and deal 3-5 more of the cards from your hand on top of the cards on the table in a messy pile so the edge of their selected card still peeks out.
  7. After you’ve dealt a few more cards beyond the key card, abruptly stop and exclaim “I’ve got it. The next card I turn over will be your card. In fact, i’m so confident. I’ll bet you a drink that I’m right!” As the spectator thinks you've already passed their card, they will usually take this bet.
  8. Once they agree, slowly reach toward the top card in your hand like you’re going to to turn it over before quickly re-directing toward the pile on the table, finding their selected card (which is now the one directly below the key card) and turning it over—ultimately winning the bet!

Pro Tip: If there are other people present, make sure they also see the selected card before it’s lost in the deck. This not only allows them to take part in the fun at the end, but also ensures they can prevent the main spectator from trying to pretend like you didn’t actually find their card once they realize they’ve been fooled!

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