One Dollar Bills to Two Dollar Bills

Yesterday I posted about a thing I was playing with using money instead of playing cards for packet tricks. I’ll give a walkthrough of how to do it, but first here’s the video of the routine:

@louiefoxx Double your money! #money #double #magic #moneymagic #dollar #twodollarbill #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Needed: Three one dollar bills and three two dollar bills. These must be crisp, and the fake movie money works great for this.

Set Up: From the top down: A single one dollar bill, then the 3 two dollar bills and the remaining 2 one dollar bills.

Working: Show the packet of bills face down and then turn them face up. Do an Elmsley Count to show what appears to be the faces of 4 one dollar bills.

For the first change you will do another Elmsley Count to show that one of the one dollar bills has turned into a two dollar bill.

Repeat that, doing another Elmsley Count for the second one dollar bill to change into a two dollar bill, but this time put it the final bill bottom instead of the top of the stack.

For the third change you will do another Elmsley Count, however this time when you get to the single one dollar bill outjog it about an inch. Set the final bill (two dollar) on top of the stack.

Strip out the one dollar bill with your right hand and show it on both sides. As that his happening your left hand buckles the bottom bill creating a gap between it and the rest of the bills above it. Your right hand puts the one dollar bill into this gap above the lowermost bill in your left hand.

For the final bill to change, simply do a modified Elmsley Count to show four two dollar bills on both sides. Do the first two counts Elmsley Count, leaving you with the block of bills in your right hand and 2 two dollar bills in your left hand. Your left hand spreads its two bills and turns over to show both sides. The left hand then puts the two bills UNDER the bills in your right hand. The whole packet of bills is then flipped face down and Elmsley Counted to show four backs.

That’s it, a change of 4 one dollar bills to 4 two dollar bills. Nothing really ground breaking there, but I think this will be a stepping stone for something better…I hope!

-Louie

Packet Tricks With Money

This isn’t a new idea, but doing packet tricks with money seems like a good way to get away from card tricks while still doing card tricks. I’m aware of a few of packet style tricks that use paper money that have been sold or published in the past.

I bought a pack of the fake “movie” money on Amazon and started playing around with what can be done. Here’s the first thing that I learned, the modern US currency has color variations on most of the bills, so it’s really hard to do anything because anything hidden hast to be perfectly squared. Also, unlike cards the different amounts of money doesn’t all have the same back. Then there’s the problem with the bills needing to stay crisp!

The solution to the first problem is was easy, use $1’s and $2’s as they have the same color edges. Emotionally changing a one dollar bill to a two dollar bill doesn’t hit as hard as turning a one into a one hundred. However two dollar bills are interesting as people thing they’re rare, so there could be something there.

Here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx Double your money! #money #double #magic #moneymagic #dollar #twodollarbill #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

There’s not much to it, just a few Elmsley Counts and a Buckle.

I wonder If this would work better held at chest height as a platform/stage piece over a close up trick?

Anyway, I think there’s something with packet tricks with bills. I don’t think this it and there’s a better application out there!

-Louie

Queens to Queens

One thing I realized when posting on social media is that a lot of standard techniques that work in an in person show don’t hold up to video. One example is using an Elmsley Count of four of the same cards, but you’re passing one card off as two. You say you have four queens, and count through them, and don’t call out the suits, so one suit shows twice. This doesn’t hold up to repeated watching.

Here’s my solution to it:

@louiefoxx Super Quick and Stupid Card Trick! #cardtrick #magic #magictrick #cards #playingcards #queens #red #black ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

In the trick above at the end you see all four suits, however you I’m only showing three cards. The solution is something that I stumbled on and it’ll be in the February issue of Vanish Magazine.

It’s a small thing and won’t improve or apply to every trick where you’re passing of the same card as two different cards using an Elmsley Count, but it’s a nice thing to be able to add when it makes sense!

-Louie

Never Bet on a Sure Thing

Carpenter's Conceptions

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

Emerson and West Presents Jim Callan’s Soup to Nuts

I love my vintage magic, especially old card tricks! Today I’m going to look at Emerson and West presents Jim Callan’s Soup to Nuts. This is a classic Emerson and West style packet trick that’s uses a handful of themed cards. Here’s what it looks like per the directions:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick – Emerson and West's Soup To Nuts! #vintage #magictrick #magic #magician #louiefoxx #closeupmagic #vintagemagic #emersonandwest #packettrick #vancouverwa ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s a decent trick, and here are my thoughts on it:

While I personally wouldn’t really use these novelty type cards, it’s great to play with them! I think anytime I learn a new seqeunce, it gets filed somewhere in my brain and it may help me out some day. Realistically it probably just get purged from my short term memory…but who knows.

-Louie

Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick: UPDATED

When I was performing at a 12 day gig, I was playing with Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick. I liked the sequence, but thought the ending was just “Meh”. Here’s what the original trick looks like:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick: Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick! #cardtrick #closeupmagic #magic #magictrick #vintage #columbus #louiefoxx #nicktrost #packettrick #cards #foxlake ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The main change was the theming, and I kinda changed the end. Here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx The One Dollar Card Trick! #cardtrick #magic #onedollar #cointrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #magician #what ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I like the ending being a picture across the four cards, instead of four separate cards. I think them being one image wraps up the trick nicely.

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Fly Cards II by Aldo Columbini

Fly Cards II by aldo columbini

I was playing with Fly Cards II by Aldo Columbini from 1991. I’m not familiar with Fly Cards I, so I can’t compare the two to talk about the improvements that this one has over the original. The effect is similar to an ace assembly, you have four cards with flies on them and a dozen blank cards. You make put 3 blank cards on each card with a fly. The first fly disappears and reappears in the next packet, so that packet now has two flies. Then those disappear and reappear in the third, so that packet now has three. Finally the three flies disappear and you accidentally tap the fourth packet revealing the surprise ending of four smashed flies.

Here’s a demo:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Fly Cards II by #AldoColumbini #magictrick #magic #sleightofhand #cardmagic #elmsleycount #antiquemagic #louiefoxx #petermaloney #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What I like about the trick is the progressive assembly, where the flies keep moving to the next packet. What I don’t like is the flies. It’s strange theming, maybe something like honey bees would be better, but then the smashed ending would have to be different as you don’t want to smush honey bees. I think this idea would be interesting in an ace assembly context, however the problem is that I don’t think it would work out as you’re passing off one card as two several times.

It’s a good trick, and I think if someone spent some time thinking of a better theme OR used it as a custom thing for a social media video it’d be useful!

-Louie

More Vallarino Book Stuff

I’m still working through the JP Vallarino book. It’s all card magic, which I’m fine with. The book for me had an early hit with his Hypnotic Rumba Count, which I really liked, but then the next few things were pretty redundant and just variations on things. For example his take on the Elmsley Count was basically a style thing and while style is important and important to how he performs, it’s not really actionable information for me.

JP Vallarino magic book by vanishing inc

In the book, the Optical Center Steal is something I’ve done since I was a teenager, and while I came up with it on my own, it’s something that I just assumed was common knowledge. I guess it’s not.

The Revolutionary Control I think gets its name from the rolling action the cards make, and not that it’s a “game changer”. This is another example of a variation, I think Harry Lorayne had a control that was very similar to this.

I’m just wrapping up the section on card sleights, and getting into the tricks. I’m hoping that there will be some more stuff that interests me in it!

-Louie

Hypnotic Rumba Count

I just stared reading the JP Vallarino book that was put out by Vanishing Inc. It’s all cards, which I’m not opposed to, as I enjoy playing with deck of cards.

The first thing in the book is the Rumba Count. This is a way to show four cards as the same card. The second thing in the book is the Hypnotic Rumba Count, which is a variation of the Rumba count and something that I don’t think I had ever learned in the past.

When I learn a new move, I try to figure out what I can do with that move before I explore what other people have done with it. It’s just a fun creative exercise. Sometimes it leads to new things, but usually I end up recreating the obvious thing with it.

The first thing I came up with is a change of 4 jokers to 4 kings

@louiefoxx Four Jokers Card Trick! From the new JP Vallarino book by Vanishing Inc #cardtrick #magic #sleightofhand #vanishinginc #louiefoxx #cardmagic #jpvallarino #playingcards ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This is definitely the obvious thing to do with this move and probably the first thing that JP Vallarino did with it.

-Louie

Twisting the Aces…

A couple of weeks ago I posted a method for doing an Elmsley style false count that hid the second card from the top (you can learn this false count here) that I came up with on a long flight. Unfortunately, this count isn’t particularly useful and doesn’t have much of an advantage over a normal Elmsley Count.

Well, last week I was on another long flight from New York to Seattle and I was playing with the false count that hides the second card and I came up with a trick with it. It’s Twisting the Aces, but it has one advantage over the original Dai Vernon version and that’s that it all four counts look the same, so you don’t have to openly turn over the ace of clubs or do that weird strip out of one of the red aces and then flip over a few cards.


You start with the four aces (could be any order) face down in your left hand.

  1. Triple turn over to show the “top card”.
  2. Kill your wrist and turn just the top card over.
    -The position of the cards are: face down – face up – face up – face down
  3. Do the “Thru the Fist Flourish”, but don’t flip over the packet.
  4. Do the Second From the Top Elmsley and this will show the first face up ace.
  5. Do the “Thru the Fist Flourish”, but don’t flip over the packet.
  6. Do a regular Elmsley and this will show the second face up ace.
    -The position of the cards are: face down – face up – face down – face up
  7. Do the “Thru the Fist Flourish”, and secretly flip over the packet.
  8. Do the Second From the Top Elmsley and this will show the third face up ace.
  9. Do the “Thru the Fist Flourish”, but don’t flip over the packet.
  10. Do the Second From the Top Elmsley and this will show the fourth face up ace. As you do the count, leave the final ace out jogged.
  11. Strip out the final ace and put it on top of the packet face up
  12. Half pass the bottom card as you spread out the packet to show the three face down bottom cards (this is the Asher Twist move)

The main problem with the above version of Twisting the Aces is that it’s soo much harder than doing the Vernon version. Honestly, I don’t know if this is better than the original Twisting the Aces, maybe the variation in procedure makes that trick more watchable from the audience perspective?

-Louie