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LET'S MATE
Published in MUM, September 1998, Vol. 88, No. 4, pp. 37-38 EFFECT
PRESENTATION AND HANDLING Have a spectator shuffle the cards. Tell the audience that you will make a prediction by reversing one card in the deck. Turn your back to the audience for a moment, as if you are reversing one card. While your back is turned, glimpse the top card of the deck. Let's say it's the Queen of Hearts. Run through the cards face up until you come to the Queen of Diamonds (the mate of the Queen of Hearts). Divide the deck at that point, the Queen of Diamonds being the lowermost card in the right hand's half. The left hand turns its half face down, in dealing position. The left thumb pushes the top card (Queen of Hearts) to the right, and the right hand inserts the Queen of Diamonds and the two cards to the right of the Queen of Diamonds face up under the Queen of Hearts. The left hand squares its packet. The hands separate. At this point, the left hand holds a face-down half (the top four cards of which are, from top down: face-down Queen of Hearts, face-up X, face-up X, face-up Queen of Diamonds); the right hand holds a face-up half. To finish the setup, simply turn the left hand's half face up again, placing it below the cards in the right hand, and give the deck one complete cut, bringing the four-card "stack" to the middle. These actions should take only a few seconds. Turn to face the audience again. Tell them that you have reversed one card and that it will be considered a prediction. To show them supposedly just one face-down card, run through the cards face up, one at a time, until you get to the first face-down card. Then, being careful not to flash the two other face-down cards underneath, push over a very small block of cards, then continue to run through the rest of the face-up deck and square up. Holding the squared deck in your left hand, faces toward you, your left thumb riffles down on the outer-left corner of the cards. As this happens, look for the three face-down cards (be careful not to flash them), riffling past them to the Queen of Hearts. When you see the Queen of Hearts, riffle just that one card past the thumb and then divide the deck at that point, giving it one complete cut. This brings the Queen of Hearts to the top (if the deck were held face down). With these actions, say, "I want to cut the deck so that my prediction will not interfere with what's about to take place." Place the deck face down on the table. Make sure the cards are square to prevent any flashing of the three face-up cards (which are second, third and fourth from the top of the deck). Have the spectator cut off about half of the cards and place them into your hand. In doing this, you must direct the spectator in such a way so that he or she does not fumble while cutting (and, therefore, flash the face-up cards). Also, you don't want the spectator holding the cards forever, so you must firmly tap your left hand as you say, "Place them right here." Turn the cards in your hand face up as you say, "You could have cut the deck anywhere. In this case, you cut the deck at the __of__ " (whatever the face card is). "But we all can see this card," you say. "I'm interested in this mystery card here." As you say this, you point to the top card of the tabled half. Remember, the four-card block/stack is at the bottom of the face-up half, which is still held by your left hand. In a moment, this block will secretly be added to the cards on the table. "Now, let's reiterate what has happened," you say as you take the squared face-up half into your right hand, Biddle Grip, and start to move it toward the face-down cards on the table. You continue, "You shuffled the deck, and..." You interrupt yourself here by quietly saying, as an aside, "Let's mark the spot where you cut." Just as you say this, the face-up right-hand half and the tabled face-down half meet squarely for a fraction of a second (just a quick, gentle tap). When the halves are touched together for this brief moment, and then are separated, the four-card block sticks to the bottom (face-down) half. There are two reasons for this: To begin with, there's a natural break above the block that allows it to easily be separated from the face-up half; and, when the two halves contact one another, there is a slight vacuum that pulls down the block, separating it at the natural break. Immediately after the block is added, turn the face-up half perpendicular to the tabled half, leaving it on top (like a cross-cut force). The add-on happens so fast that it almost seems impossible for any sleight of hand to be taking place. And your actions are very casual. Don't make a big deal out of it. Just do it as an aside, as an interruption to what you started to say. To the spectator, it seems as if you've merely marked the position of the cut as you were pattering. Placing the halves perpendicular to each other appears to be nonchalant second thought on your part. Now, finish the sentence you had started, "You shuffled the deck, and I reversed one card as a prediction. You cut the deck anywhere you wanted." After presenting the above patter, which adds a bit of time misdirection, pick up the face-up (top) half with your left hand and, with your right hand, deal the top card of the tabled half face down to the table as you say, "This is the card to which you cut. Had you cut one card deeper, you would have had this card (show the top card of the tabled half and replace it). Had you cut one card fewer, you would have had this card (show the face card of the half you hold)." Place the half you hold face down onto the tabled half. At this point, you are clean. Slowly run through the face-up deck and upjog the reversed card (the card the spectators thought they saw at the beginning) and square the deck, letting the reversed card protrude from the middle. Slowly turn over the deck to reveal the "prediction." Slowly turn over their card. You've mated!
WHITE MAGIC WORDS: There are other ways to do this effect, as Tom mentions. Most require a key card and knowledge of the spectator's selection. Tom accomplished the trick using a clean force affected by a nifty add-on move that is almost self working. It will take a bit of skill, though, to riffle down to the needed block of cards without being obvious. Be sure and heed Tom's good advice regarding strong management when the spectator cuts the deck. © 1995 Tom Interval 
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The magician has a spectator shuffle a deck of playing cards. The performer reverses one card in the deck, the identity of which is unknown to the audience. With the deck face down on the table, the spectator is asked to cut off about half of the cards and to hand them to the performer. The card to which the spectator cut is fairly placed aside, face down on the table. The one reversed card, which was shown at the beginning of the effect, is removed from the deck. It matches the spectator's card—a perfect mate (i.e., the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Diamonds). Obviously, this type of effect is not new; however, this version incorporates an ultra-convincing force that makes it very strong.