Spex Mix: A Minor Tweak

There’s a mistake I see magicians make quite frequently, and it goes like this…

They need to get a card or cards in a specific position, but they want to have the spectator shuffle the cards first. So the spectator shuffles, then hands the deck back to the magician. The magician spreads the deck in front of himself and says, “Okay, these look pretty well mixed.” And in that process he culls out the card he needs or otherwise manipulates it back to the top of the deck.

This is fairly standard technique, and I’m sure it flies by a lot of people. But from some old “suspicion testing” we once did, I also know that it can pique people’s suspicion.

You can see Craig Petty doing what I’m talking about at 1:20 in the video below. (I find myself often referring to a Craig Petty video when I have something to comment on. This isn’t because I take issue with what he’s doing any more than I do with most magicians. It’s just because Craig puts himself out there performing more than any other magician—so he provides more content to comment on.)

Here’s the thing, you can’t have the spectator shuffle the deck and then take it back and spread it towards yourself. This is antithetical to the point of having them shuffle in the first place.

Yes, but what I’m doing is looking to see that they’re well mixed.

Okay. But that’s not your concern, so why would you be looking at the cards?

If my goal is to demonstrate that I can deal a royal flush from any mixed deck of cards, I don’t have to assure myself that the cards are well mixed before I start. I shouldn’t give a shit whether they are or not. But I need you to know they’re well mixed.

So when I need to spot some cards and get them in place, I need to do it under the guise of showing you the deck. Are you happy that these are well mixed?

But there’s a problem with this. Asking if you are “happy that the deck is mixed well” or something like that is a bit of a nonsensical question. What does it even mean to a spectator? If someone asked you, “Are you happy the Yahtzee dice were well mixed in the cup?” You would think, Yeah. I mean, I guess. What are you even talking about? You asked me to shake the cup and I shook it 🤷‍♂️

The question itself is a little strange, so you end up drawing attention to the moment in a way that can feel odd.

Here’s what I do instead. After they shuffle, I take the deck back, turn it over and spread it to them (although I can still see the cards, of course). “Does that look well mixed now? It’s not like… the aces are all gathered together in one area or anything like that, yes?”

You see what I’m doing? At first, I’m asking them if the deck seems well mixed generally. But then I’m giving them something specific to look for as an example of a deck that wasn’t well mixed.

“Is your salad well-tossed, sir?”

Huh, what? I guess.

“Like, the croutons are evenly dispersed, yes?”

Oh, yeah. They’re fine, thank you.

By giving the spectator something specific to look for, I’m empowering them to answer the question with confidence.

This reinforces that the deck is really mixed, gives a reason for me to spread it in front of them, and occupies their mind with a little task, so they’re not focusing on what I’m doing.

If you’re looking to see that the aces are dispersed throughout the deck, I can easily cull the diamonds out without you noticing.

Of course, if I was doing a trick where I needed to cull the aces, I wouldn’t direct you to look for them specifically. Instead, I’d say something like, “And you’re happy the cards are well mixed. There’s not, like, a big string of diamonds right in a row or anything like that, yes?”

I know this probably seems like a “little thing,” but powerful magic is all about accounting for these little things.