Double Cut Force: The card to be forced is on top of the deck. You have a spectator cut a small packet of cards from the top of the deck and turn them face up onto the deck. So at this point you have a small packet of face up cards on top of the deck. Once you begin spreading the cards... you must go to the first FACE-DOWN card and that will be the original top card (the first face-up card will NOT be the original top card) To make this seem effective... it is often good to mention to the spectator that you would like for him/her to look at the "card you freely cut to". And you have just performed a double cut force.
Cut force: It's decent. Memorize the bottom card. Think of the deck as a top half and bottom half. Have someone cut the deck and put the top half(we'll call it 1" to the right. the bottom of course will be called 2. Have the spectator flip the top card on 1 over, face-up on top of the rest of the cards. Have him'her put 2 on of 1. Have him/her fan through the deck and find the card they flipped over. Tell them that their card is the one to the right, which is the orginal bottom card.
Glide force: This is a very useful way to force a card, and it is easy. First, memorize the bottom card. That is the card you are going to force. Ask the spectator to pick a number between one and ten. For example we'll say that they picked eight. Glide the bottom card (the one that will be forced) and start dealing out cards from above it. Once you've dealt out one less amount of cards then the selected number, then deal out the real bottom card. So, if the person picked eight, glide the bottom card, deal out seven cards, and then deal out the real bottom one as the eighth. This is the perfect way to force a card and is a very useful weapon.
Spread Cull Force - Let's say you have a card you wish to force somewhere... one way or another get it to the bottom (or make the bottom card your force card). Undercut about 10 cards from the bottom (the card to force is now the tenth card from the top, theoretically, this can be any number, but I keep it to under 10). Spread the top of the deck as you ask the spectator to select a card. While doing so, cull the force card underneath the spread (Assume the force card is the fifth card, spread out five cards, using your left hand's fingers, hold the fifth card in place and move the four cards above back towards the deck. The fifth card will go under that stock. Thumb off the sixth card a bit, but drag the right hand stock, including the force card underneath back to the right. You will feel a click as the force card falls free of the top of the deck. From this point on, all cards apread will be OVER the culled card). Ask the spectator to TOUCH a card. When spectator does so, ask the spectator if he/she is absolutely sure that is the card he/she wants. Also, ask if you've influenced the choice... emphasize the apparent freedom of the selection. When the spectator finally decides on a card, jog it outward towards the spectator so that it pokes out of the right hand stock. At this point, you have two ways to go. You can square up everything, and your force card is the bottom of the right hand stock, but to the spectator, is logically his/her card. Another thing you can do is to drop the right hand stock on top of the remaining left hand stock, but outjog it quite a bit. Now, you need to align your force card with the card the spectator touched. I usually do this by the action of squaring up the outjogged top portion. I slide the force card up while keeping a right hand index finger on the outer edge of the touched card to keep from pushing too far forward. I can then even pull out the two cards a bit more and show it to the audience from that vantage point.As an addendum, you can shove the force card plus some cards beneath it through the pack and grab them with your right hand and drop them on top and rationalize it by saying you're "burying the card deeper." This happens while the touched card is in full view, thereby reinforcing the illusion even further, but the viewed card is now on top. This explanation has been quite wordy, but if you know how to spread cull, all of it should make sense. The principles in the spread cull force can also be applied to a standard fan, except the bottom card is the one that is ridden underneath the spread and the fan is broken on the card the spectator touches.Dribble Force - This is a force that is very close to impossible to screw up because it's just psychologically strong. Have the card you wish to force in the upper portion of the deck and hold a break either above or beneath it with the thumb. Dribble the cards into the other hand asking the spectator to say stop. The speed of the dribbling should be moderate. When the spectator calls stop, drop all the cards beneath the break. And offer either the bottom card of the righthand stock or the top of the dribbled stock, depending on where you held your break. You've forced the card. A few notes on that force. It seems very similar to the riffle force, but this one is more effective because you have the cushion of the dribbling cards so you can drop a lot at the end without looking too weird if the spectator calls stop early. And as for the spectator calling stop late? Slow down your dribble, and the spectator will practically have to FIGHT to not call stop. I once overlooked this force... don't make that mistake, try it yourself. You'll be surprised at how well it works. 20 count force: This is an automatic force which comes in handy sometimes. All you need to know is the 10th card and just tell the spectator to pick a number between 10 and 20 they do you deal that many cards out then tell them to add the two digits together then put that many cards on the top have them remember the top card of the little stack and do whatever you what to do with this self working force.
Force 1: Memorize the top card. Cut the top of the deck to the bottom, but hold a break between the card halves. You are basically going to fan the cards out, but making sure that the top card you memorize is the most accessible. Try to make the other cards hard to get by making the close and tight together. At the same time try to make it look like a normal fanned deck. Then when you ask your spectator to pick a card tell him/her...well, I usually tell them anyway "When you take a card, hold it against your chest so neither of us can see it. Now take a card(and when they begin to reach) Quickly! " The objective is to make them not think about what card they chose. If you tell them to take it quickly, it kinda puts alittle pressure on them, so they'll take the easier-most accessible card they can find. And you happen to have one already set. Believe it or not, this work almost all the time. I've had 2 occassions when it hasn't, And I've done it plenty of times. If they don't pick the card that was set up, Just do a normal 'pick any card' trick. But if they do pick the card(And ALOT of people will...you will be very surprised) then you can do the impossible!
NOTE: Do not do this force to the same person twice!! It will work the first time, but the second time it won't....believe me!
Force 2: First you need to know the bottom card. Make sure that you are following along with a deck of cards, otherwise you most likely won't get it! Now, hold the deck in dealing postion. place your thumb on the bottom card and your pointing finger and middle finger on top. slide the bottom card slightly toward your chest with your thumb. Next, with your pointing finger pull back a tiny packet of cards. Even one card would be fine. Next with your middle finger pull back a second packet. then, back to your pointing finger, pull of a third packet. Keep doing this....Try to do it rapidly. Then have your spectator tell you when to stop pulling back the packets. When he say stop do this: Keep the deck held in your left hand. pull up all the packets that you were pulling towards you up, faceing the spectator. When you pull the packets up, also slip the bottom card IN FRONT of all those cards. Now in your right hand you should be holding all the packets that you were pulling towards your(or most of them) faceing the spectator.(You can only see the backs). The original bottom card should be in front of all the packets. The outmost card facing the spectator should be the original bottom card, which is the card that he sees. Then have him shuffle the deck and do whatever. This one is really good. To some people, you can simply say"Tell me when to stop" and then when s(he) say stop you call the card. Although I would recomend putting something else to it. I only do that when I am out of tricks. But don't do it too many times or you will be revealed.
Force 3: This force is a fairly good one. Memorize the top card. Have the spectator cut the deck and put it upside-down(face-up) on top of the other half. Next, have the spectator cut anywhere below the first cut, and flip it upside down and put it on top. Then fan through the deck and find the first face-down card. Say something like"It's easy to tell where you cut to, because all the other cards are face up). Show him'her the first face down card and tell them to remember it. it's the chosen card, and all that kind of mumbo-jumbo. The first face down card is the original top card:)
Justin Johnson
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