Home > Card Tricks > Sloppy Shuffle Trick

Sloppy Shuffle Trick

By: Chris Welsh - Updated: 11 May 2013 | comments*Discuss
 
Sloppy Shuffle  Magic Trick Card Trick

A visual stunner, the Sloppy Shuffle convinces the audience of one thing, while the magician is doing the opposite.

The Effect
The magician announces that he is not going to do a typical card trick, but try something different. Spreading the cards he allows a spectator to choose one and then return it to the deck. He then begins to mess up the cards, turning them over and mixing them up, so that they are randomly face up and face down. With a snap of the fingers, all the cards return to face down position except for the chosen card, which is shown to be face up.

The Secret
The sloppy shuffle part of the Sloppy Shuffle actually organises the cards into two neat packets, all facing the same direction.

Materials
Normal playing cards.

Preparation
No advance preparation required.

Performing the Trick

The magician will get plenty of shocked responses to this trick, which is a visual stunner.
  1. The magician produces a normal deck of cards and spreads them for the audience. Asking a spectator to choose a card, the magician cuts the deck in half and asks that the card be placed on the top of the left handed half.

  2. magician shows audience chosen cardBefore putting the right hand half on top, the magician raises the left hand and pushes the chosen card forward with the thumb, so that it peeks out and can be seen by the audience. “Did everyone get a good look at the card?” he can ask, or if it one person, “You are sure this is your card?” 20px break
  3. magician catches card with finger tipsAs the left hand comes down the tip of the little finger catches a break under the chosen card, so when the top half of the deck is replaced it will now be on the bottom of the top half. 20px break
  4. The magician then cuts the cards at the break. This puts the chosen card on the bottom of the deck. It is fine to say “now we cut the cards” at this point as it is a good lead in to the sloppy shuffle.

  5. magician deals cards“Instead of doing a normal shuffle, I am now going to thoroughly mix up the cards, the magician says, and does the following: deal off a few cards into the right hand, turn the right hand over so that the small packet of cards is now face up; continue to deal off cards (face down).20px break
  6. Then turn the right hand over again; deal off a few more cards; repeat; turn over the left hand as well as the right and continue to deal off cards; repeat until one card is left - the chosen card. Make sure as you both hands are face down and you are dealing face down cards. As you get to the last card just toss it on the top of the deck.

  7. While the magician is doing the sloppy shuffle, he should be saying something to the equivalent of, “as you can see I am mixing up the cards quite a bit. Faces to faces, backs to backs, thoroughly losing your card in the mix.”

  8. What the magician is left with is two packets of cards: the top packet is face up, the bottom packet is face down, and the chosen card is face down on the top of the deck.

  9. magician shows cards are mixed up“Here, let me show you how mixed up they are,” says the magician, who then cuts off a portion of the top half and says “Some cards are faces to backs.” 20px break
  10. magician cuts the deckHe replaces the cards and then cuts the deck in the middle of the bottom packet and says “and some are backs to faces.” 20px break
  11. magician cuts the cards againHe replaces the packet and then cuts the deck right at the separation of the two halves, which have cards back to back; “and some are back to back.” 20px break
  12. magician replaces the cards on the top of the deck face downreverse view of replaceing the cards to show sleight of handWhen replacing the top half on the bottom half, the magician ROTATES the top half, essentially putting all the cards back to a face down position. 20px break
  13. magician spreads cards to reveal chosen card face upThe inverted chosen card masks this move. The trick is now done - the magician says a magic word and spreads the cards to show them all facing one direction, except for the inverted chosen card. 20px break

Magical Tip

Bend the deck of cards slightly before beginning and the break separating the two halves will be easier to find.

You might also like...
Share Your Story, Join the Discussion or Seek Advice..
Good site magic tricks are explained with perfect details
Stephen - 11-May-13 @ 10:50 AM
Share Your Story, Join the Discussion or Seek Advice...
Title:
(never shown)
Firstname:
(never shown)
Surname:
(never shown)
Email:
(never shown)
Nickname:
(shown)
Comment:
Validate:
Enter word:
Topics