I’m working through Jack Carpenter’s new book Carpenter’s Conceptions right now. The second trick in it is my favorite so far, but I’m only about 5 tricks into the book. I’m a huge fan of his, ever since I was a teenager and I got his book Modus Operandi.
Fun little fact, Jack and I used to live in the same town (along with Bob Cassidy) and I would run into Jack every now and then at the Red Robin.
In Carpenter’s Conceptions the second trick is called Never Bet On a Sure Thing which is a five card monte trick. Here’s what it looks like:
@louiefoxx Follow the jack! #cardtrick #magictrick #magic #cardmagic #magiciansoftiktok #cards #bet #neverbetonasurething ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
Well, that’s almost what’s in the book. I changed it a little bit, the final display has a little something extra that I discovered. Did you notice it?
The final display where you are three cards as four cards doesn’t really hold up as well on a social media video. If someone watches it twice and is burning you, they’ll notice two of the same cards. To minimize that, I came up with this Elmsley Count variation:
Ideally the gimmicked card would have the same head on the jack on both ends, but the card used in the video above was all that I had at home.
It’s not a big deal, but it’s a little thing that can make your social media videos slightly more bullet proof.
-Louie