HOW TO WIN AN EASY BUCK WITH A CARD TRICK

MAGICIAN

The 21-card trick is something most everyone knows, but here's a different way of presenting it.

TAKE A DECK OF CARDS. Lay out three cards face up (always deal left to right) and repeat until you have three columns of seven overlapping cards each.

HAVE SOMEONE SELECT ACARD, but don't ask which. Just ask which column it appears in. Now take that column and stack it between the other two columns of cards. So, if he says, "First column," stack column one on top of column two, and stack column three on top of column one. Restack each column in the same order as they were dealt.

NOW TURN THESE 21 CARDS FACE DOWN and lay them out again face up in three columns of seven cards each. Ask which column now has the card. Stack that column again in the middle.

NOW LAY OUT THE CARDS ONE MORE TIME. This is the key to the trick. This time, whatever column he states, his card will be the fourth from the top. Once you identify it, restack the cards, with the chosen column in the middle, and deal out the cards, knowing the nth card is correct (7 cards + 4 cards = 11 cards).

NEXT, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE SOME MONEY on this, deal the cards face up, dealing right past the correct card. When you get to the 14th or 15th card, stop and say, "I will bet you a dollar that the next card I turn up will be your card." After you get your buck, instead of turning over the next card, lean over and turn the correct face-up card face down. It's known in the trade as a suckers trick. And if you're doing it in a bar, $5 is probably a better bet.

Michael Ellis

A longtime theater owner and producer, Ellis, atage 60, walked into an adult education class onmagic, giving birth to what he now calls "afull-timeobsession."A former president of the InternationalBrotherhood of Magicians, Ellis still performsclose-up table magic every Tuesday night at Clawson'srestaurant in Beaufort, North Carolina. Hemajored in French.