Card Tricks

Spotlight: The Magic of Lennart Green

Card Tricks, Stage Magic

When it comes to magic, you need a combination of professionalism and charm to win over your audience. This involves never performing the same trick twice and of course, never revealing the secret to your trick like how Lennart Green does it.

But what about fellow magicians?

Usually, if another magician or illusionist is watching a performance, they’ll know exactly how the magician is working his/her tricks.

However, when fellow magicians watch Lennart Green, it’s an entirely different story.

Lennart Green: Pros & Cons


PROS

  • Full of insights on his famous tricks
  • Detailed explanation how he setup his performances
  • Reveals the secrets behind professional and award-winning acts

CONS

  • Expensive

Card Trick Abilities


Lennart Green is a Swedish magician, highly known around the magician community and fellow professionals for his card trick abilities.

Throughout the years, Green has been a doctor, a nurse, an assistant gymnastic professor, and violin crafter. However, out of all his many hats, he wears his magician hat the best.

Lennart Green is widely known for his more disorderly magic performances which are both unique and entertaining.

Many claims that his skills and showmanship are unlike any other magician’s, making his shows awe-inspiring for even the most talented magic professionals.

We will discuss who Lennart Green is, his tricks and reviews of the products he offers to help you become a skilled magician yourself.

Lennart Green Background and Famous Moments

It was a show in 1988 that helped Lennart Green rise to the top of magician kingdom.

This was when he was performing magic in close-up style for the judges at the FISM convention.

This event, for all of you who aren’t familiar with magician competitions, is the cream of the crop and takes place every three years.

Lennart amazed the audience with his close-up card trick but then was disqualified under suspicion of using stooges in this act.

This is because the trick Lennart performed was deemed impossible, so the judges assumed he was cheating.

What was the trick?

lennart green: cards facing backwards

Lennart called a volunteer up on stage and asked them to shuffle his deck of cards, however many times they wanted.

The assistant was asked to name a card, and amazingly, Lennart took the card from the deck.

The judges couldn’t believe it, so they immediately disqualified him.

Lennart continued performing as an amateur magician for years, despite his protesting and pleading with the judges.

Three years later, at the same convention, Green entered the close-up magic competition with the same trick. The only difference was this time he invited the judges and their assistants on stage to perform his unbelievable trick.

So, just as before, he asked his assistants (now judges) to shuffle his pack of cards. Again, the trick worked magically, apologies were made, and Green was awarded first place. Enabling him to become a professional magician at last.

Ever since this convention, Lennart Green has become very well known for his lectures and magic tutorials among magicians and fans. These talks and showcases have become so popular and are so well done; he was invited to record one on TED talks.

You can check out the talk, “Close-Up Card Magic with a Twist,” here.​​​

Products and Tricks

Since Lennart Green’s feat at the FISM convention competition, he has created a range of different tricks and products for his audience, fans, and fellow magicians.

We will outline some of the best products and tricks Lennart Green offers, followed by reviews of some of our favorites.

“Stolen Cards” DVD and Deck

With this trick, the skilled magician Lennart Green starts with the basic trick of the Gemini Twins with a normal deck of cards.

Green takes this trick to a whole new level by adding two revelations. A plot and a deck of unique, custom-made cards.

This is a self-working trick which means there’s no sleight of hand tricks needed. The cards that he includes and of course, the presentation, provide incredible performance.

There are some other effects that are similar to Stolen Cards, while not the same.

Kaleidoscope Cards

One card trick called the "Kaleidoscope Cards" by Daryl is very similar and also includes a custom-made deck.

This assemblage of a custom card deck and magical DVD performance is hard to beat.

Lennart Green is a unique magician with originality that comes through his comical and amazing performances. 

He was well-loved and desired all over the world. An example of this is his appearance on NBC’s World’s Greatest Magic. Not only was he chosen to appear on this great show, but the outcome was amazing —everyone loved him.

Through this DVD set, Lennart uses his unique skills to teach aspiring magicians and his fans how to become a magical being.

lennart green: cards focused on close up

Classic Green Volume 1 of 6-Part DVD Set

This volume includes the F.I.S.M act which is the act that made Lennart Green famous around the world.

Included in this act are disappearing glasses, the laser deal, separation of colors, appearing glass of liquid, and a full deck separation straight from a shuffled deck.

You’ll also find in this act, Lennart’s blindfolded ace through to king production.

While this part is shown as performance only, you’ll be able to learn techniques and parts of this routine throughout the three-part set.

This act also includes a large number of sleights, providing one of the greatest assemblages of unique card material available.

Classic Green Volume 2 of 6-Part DVD Set

Lennart is truly one of a kind, and this fact comes out in Classic Green Volume 2.

Lennart can do tricks with a deck of cards you wouldn’t believe. Because of his incredible card magic and his wonderful sense of humor on addictive performances, the world has sought after him.

A World Champion of FISM and featured magician on NBC’s World’s Greatest Magic. Lennart is a world-class entertainer and magician with more than just a few unique tricks up his sleeve.

In volume 2, you’ll get background information and insight on his tricks, The Poker Deal, Deceptive Perception, The Temple of Shiva, The One-Two Separation, The Swedes Deal, Fale Angle Riffle Shuffle and more.

Classic Green Volume 3 of a 6-Part DVD Set

Volume three of the six-volume set of DVDs provides more wild magic that makes Lennart Green a world-class entertainer and magician.

You’ll be able to gain insight into his most famous routines and techniques created to blow up the minds of his audience.

In Volume #3, you’ll find the background information and insight into his tricks, Fractal Harmony, Impromptu Royal Flush, 2nd Birthday Gift, One in Fifty-Two Bet. These and many more amazing tricks to learn from and practice into your magic routines.

Classic Green Volume 4 of a 6-Part DVD Set

One of the highlights in a Lennart Green performance is when he consistently separates the aces into a red or black order and a new deck order.

In these DVDs, he displays the many methods of using and accomplishing this trick.

Along with this, you will also learn about his love of false shuffles and cuts while learning all the techniques needed to excel at these tricks.

In this specific volume, he outlines Introduction to False Shuffles, Mirror Shuffles, MCavakacade of False Shuffles and Mirror Cross Shuffle.

Classic Green Volume 5 and 6 of a 6-Part DVD Set

To finish it off, Lennart Green has two more volumes to this 6-part DVD set.

In these parts, he uncovers more of his incredible tricks, how to master them and the techniques behind their wonder.

In these two DVDs, you’ll find some of his popular tricks such as:

  • The Rope and Nute, Crab Cut
  • The Maurai Move
  • Max Milton
  • The Drop Pass
  • Laser Deal
  • Flexible Deck
  • Lateral Vanishing Deck
  • Drop Cull Separation and many more

You can purchase this box set here at My Magic on Amazon

Lennart Green’s Green Lite


Lennart does unimaginable things with cards. Although he is well known for his wild looking card magic; he is also passionate in mathematical principles. And he incorporates them in his card routines.

On this DVD, you’ll find some of this magic that’s self-working, easy and well-explained.

Some of the routines explained include:

  • Fractured Logic
  • Rain Man
  • 4 Aces Squared
  • $26,000 Bet
  • Stolen Cards

Masterfile: Four Set DVD

This set was produced in Portugal by Luis de Matos and includes a four-disc DVD set that includes all of Lennart Green’s creative catalog.

In this set, Lennart reveals the secrets behind professional and award-winning acts, including ten routines, 35 sleights, controls, and flourishes.

Along with this valuable information and material, it also includes two hours worth of interviews by Luis de Matos as he interviews Lennart Green about his work, magic, and life.

These interviews provide insight into one of the most respected and admired magical performers of all time. Through this, Lennart talks about his early influences, his love of magic, music, and puzzles.

This set is subtitles into six different languages: French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese.

The specific discs include:

Disc 1:

a performance at the Baroque Library at the University of Coimbra which is Green’s professional act that has taken him all over the world. It fully explains every trick, every tint tip and line of the pattern.

You can enjoy the full performance as well as become amazed by the explanations behind the tricks.

Disc 2:

Car separations, special moves, cuts, and shuffles. In this disk, Green takes shuffled cards and amazingly restores them to the regular order.

He tells us all about his techniques, stunning products, secret false shuffles, and everything you need to know to become a magician like him.

He uses these techniques in the thousands of his performances which have given Lennart Green the title of, “The Master of Chaos.”

Disc 3:

Lennart's favorite close-up routines: Stonehenge, The Terrorist, Two Dragons, Something Happened and many more.


These are all featured and explained which will have magicians loving his poker routines and tricks.

Disc 4:

Poker Routines, Three Shell Game, Coins Through the Table, Origami are all included in these routines that will have your crowd roaring.

Green performs dozens of tricks and sleights and moves in this DVD set, one of the finest you can find.

Lennart Green is world famous for his unique and comical performing style and brilliant tricks and thinking behind his performances.

In these DVD sets, you’ll have an inside look at Lennart Green. What makes him world famous and how he sets up his tricks to amaze his audiences over and over.

What People Say About Lennart Green: Performance and Product Review

lennart green: blur design deck fingers

People love Lennart’s performances due to his comedic and unique way on stage.

As mentioned before, Lennart Green can trick anyone in his audience, whether he’s performing for judges or professional magicians.

He is original, smart and comedic which is why millions of admirers continue to look to him for inspiration and entertainment. 

Customer Rating

Price

Our Rating

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Lennart Green Product Review

Out of all the products Lennart has produced, Masterfile is by far our favorite, as it is others.

You can buy the product on Amazon, or you can purchase it on Theory 11.

Out of 68 ratings on Theory 11, this DVD set has received an average rating of 4 ¼ stars which is pretty impressive.

On Amazon, this DVD set has received five stars out of two reviews.

Overall, we think Lennart Green has deserved his fame and admiration. He is a fantastic magician with a flair for amazing people with his skills, vibrancy, humor, and amazing stage performance.

His true colors come through when performing, showing true passion for what he does. We highly recommend learning from him as it will mean learning from one of the world’s absolute best card magicians of our time.

14 Best Playing Cards for Magic

Card Tricks, Magic Playing Cards

If you need a new deck of playing cards for magic tricks, where do you begin looking? It can be very difficult to know where to get started and what a quality deck looks like when shopping online.

We are here to help you choose the product that will work the best for you and your tricks.

14 Best Playing Cards for Magic

PRODUCT NAME

IMAGE

RATING

DETAILS

Poker 808 Bicycle Cards

playing cards: Decks Bicycle Rider Standard Playing

SWE Deck

playing cards: SWE Deck

Absinthe Playing Cards V2

playing cards: Absinthe Playing Cards V2

Bicycle 52 Proof

playing cards: Bicycle 52 Proof

Sleepers

playing cards: sleepers deck

Bicycle Black Ghost

playing cards: Bicycle Black Ghost

Pipmen Playing Cards

playing cards: Pipmen Playing Cards

Ellusionist FATHOM Playing Cards

playing cards: Ellusionist FATHOM Playing Cards

Bumble Bee Playing Cards

playing cards: Bumble Bee Playing Cards

Theory11 Union Playing Cards

playing cards: Theory11 Union Playing Cards

Joker and the Thief: White Gold Edition

playing cards: Joker and the Thief White Gold Edition

Ice Plastic Playing Cards

Ice Plastic Playing Cards

Prism Night Playing Cards

Prism Night Playing Cards

Magic Makers Orange Reversed Deck Bicycle Playing Cards

Magic Makers Orange Reversed Deck Bicycle Playing Cards

Here is a complete list of what we consider the top 14 choices for magician’s playing cards.

Poker 808 Bicycle Cards

playing cards: Decks Bicycle Rider Standard Playing

This first choice may seem incredibly obvious, but Bicycle does have some of the most high-quality, decent cards on the market. These Poker 808 playing cards are the standard choice from Bicycle that you would see most often in red and blue.

They are a tested and loved the pack, with customers raving about how incredibly durable they are even though they are thin and easy to shuffle. The cards have a glossy finish on them, making them stronger and less resistant to stains from liquids.

On top of that, they are said to take quite a while to lose their snap – customers had mentioned in online reviews that they got over 90-100 hours before it was lost. These playing cards are also very affordable. You can buy a two-pack combo (comes with both a red and blue deck) on Amaz​​​​on​​​​​

PROS

  • High-quality
  • Durable
  • Affordable

CONS

  • Old-fashion design

Our Rating

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Customer Rating

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SWE Deck

SWE Deck playing cards

Next up, we have the SWE deck.

To give you a little background about this deck of playing cards, they are named after the author S.W. Erdnase – he published The Expert at the Card Table in the year 1902. This book told the world how magicians were able to pull off their sleight of hand and is now a staple for anyone in the magic community. These cards have the entire cover of the book on the back of them.

The cards are a rich and vibrant green and gold, and very easy to read. They are also a fantastic conversation starter when using them around other people.

They are a limited-edition card from Ellusionist, so they will be a little more difficult to purchase than the Bicycle cards we just looked at. 

PROS

  • Rich and vibrant design
  • Limited edition

CONS

  • Difficult to purchase

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Absinthe Playing Cards V2

playing cards: Absinthe Playing Cards V2

Absinthe Playing Cards V2

Another great option for playing cards if you like the aesthetic of green ones are the Absinthe Playing Cards V2. Just like the famed alcohol Absinthe, these cards are an electric green that will catch the eyes of those watching you perform.

This deck was originally only available as part of the Prohibition box set with six different decks in it. However, you can now purchase it all on its own. They are thin and incredibly easy to work with for both shuffling and performing tricks.

Want a deck of these?

PROS

  • Eye-catching design
  • Incredibly easy to shuffle

CONS

  • Edge of card may be delaminated after a few hours of use

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Bicycle 52 Proof

Bicycle 52 Proof Playing Cards

The Bicycle 52 Proof playing cards are an excellent choice for anyone in the magic community who enjoys the aesthetic of vintage cards in the 1920s. With the regular Bicycle layout and the old-time script and design, these are a gorgeous choice for your magic tricks.

They are thick and sturdy cards, while also remaining incredibly easy to handle and use. The print and images are easy for you to read as well.

PROS

  • Thick and sturdy
  • Easy to handle and use
  • Prints are easy to ready 

CONS

  • Some cards don't have gold foil

Our Rating

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Sleepers Deck

playing cards: sleepers deck

These cards are a hit if you are more of a minimalist. The Sleepers deck of playing cards is simply black, with red only on the hearts and the diamonds. It also looks neat and intricate when the deck is shuffled as well. The cards were designed by Oban Jones and were based on a concept by Daniel Madison.

These will cost you a little more than most of the other options on the list, mostly because they are a limited edition and are a little more difficult to find. 

PROS

  • Minimalist
  • Neat and intricate

CONS

  • Cost a little more

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Bicycle Black Ghost

playing cards: Bicycle Black Ghost

The Bicycle Black Ghost cards are a great, unique look for any magician. The sleek black cards are very simple and beautiful, and the Jokers are one of a kind, too.

These playing cards are incredibly durable, as they are made with a thick, firm card stock. They also have a nice glide finish, making them easy and efficient to handle.

PROS

  • Unique look for magicians
  • Simple and beautiful
  • Durable and easy to handle

CONS

  • Packaging box not too good

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Pipmen Playing Cards

playing cards: Pipmen Playing Cards

Want something really special? Pipmen playing cards are incredibly unique in their design. Each card has a different, surreal image on it, making them a lot of fun to pick up and go through.

As far as quality goes, the company uses 310GSM embossed Black Core European card stock to make the product. They also apply casino-grade printing techniques. The design was made to work well in humidity and last through extremely frequent usage, and their Emerald finish coating is fantastic for shuffling, dealing, and tricks.

PROS

  • Unique design
  • Uses 310GSM material
  • With casino-grade printing techniques

CONS

  • More expensive than other brands

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Ellusionist FATHOM Playing Cards

playing cards: Ellusionist FATHOM Playing Cards

These gorgeous cards were specifically designed with magicians in mind. They feature a lovely oceanic theme that was inspired by Jules Verne’s novel 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The deck is extremely high-quality. They are made from USPCC stock and a soft-glide performance finish – this makes them perfect for sleight of hand techniques.

They are also one part of a four-part set called the Origin Series made by Ellusionist. Each set is for a different element, this one, of course, being water. Even though they are a watery blue, they are still very easy to read and use for tricks.

PROS

  • Designed for magicians
  • Extremely high-quality deck
  • Very easy to read and use for tricks

CONS

  • Bubbly design may not be appealing

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Bumble Bee Playing Cards

playing cards: Bumble Bee Playing Cards

Looking for unique cards that also have a nice, vintage look to them? Bumble Bee playing cards are perfect, and they also donate a portion of the proceeds towards saving bees.

They were specifically designed for sleight of hand tricks, as well as to bring support to the honey bees. The design is very high-quality. The card stock is thick and stiff with a nice finish.

PROS

  • Unique, vintage design
  • Designed for sleight of hand tricks
  • Very high-quality

CONS

  • Digits are difficult to read

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Theory11 Union Playing Cards

playing cards: Theory11 Union Playing Cards

If you are interested in American history, this is the deck of playing cards for you. The Theory11 Union deck is a patriotic product based on the history of the United States.

They are made out of FSC-certified paper derived from sustainable forests using vegetable-based inks. The cards also have a signature finish on them, making them perfect for easy handling, shuffling, and tricks.

The price is fair as well.

PROS

  • FSC-certified paper
  • Cards have nice finish
  • Affordable

CONS

  • Only the box, face cards, and few featured cards have designs

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Joker and the Thief: White Gold Edition

playing cards: Joker and the Thief White Gold Edition

This gorgeous custom deck is perfect for magicians. The crisp white and gold edition of the Joker and the Thief playing cards are beautiful and unique to anything else on the market.

These were specifically designed by an artist for cardists, magicians, players, and collectors. They are of the highest quality and incredibly durable with casino-grade paper stock and finish. They also have a durable linen classic finish coating and hot foil stamping on both sides of the card.

They are a little pricier than a lot of the options on the list, but you are getting a gorgeous and unique product.

PROS

  • Perfect for magicians
  • Beautiful, unique designs
  • High-quality and incredibly durable

CONS

  • Pricier than most brands

Our Rating

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Ice Plastic Playing Cards

Ice Plastic Playing Cards

These cards are from Bicycle and are just as high-quality as all of their other products.

They have a nice, glossy finish for easy handling and are made from incredibly sturdy and thick card stock. This deck also has a unique design with frost and ice being the main theme. They are a great collectible set of cards and fantastic for card magic tricks.

PROS

  • High-quality
  • Glossy finish
  • Thick card stock

CONS

  • Pricier than most brands

Our Rating

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Prism Night Playing Cards

Prism Night Playing Cards

These are a fantastic, unique look with every color of the rainbow included in the theme. Prism Night playing cards are a glossy black, with the lettering and images being vibrant, rainbow colors.

The cards are a great eye-catching conversation starter while playing with them or doing tricks. The stock they are made of is high-quality and thick, and the entire card is covered in an excellent glossy finish.

PROS

  • Rainbow colored theme
  • Glossy black
  • High-quality and thick card

CONS

  • Pricier than most brands

Our Rating

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Magic Makers Orange Reversed Deck Bicycle Playing Cards

Magic Makers Orange Reversed Deck Bicycle Playing Cards

This last option is another fantastic deck of cards from Bicycle. With the reversed back, the cards are mostly a bright orange with white accents.

Like all of Bicycle’s other cards, they are a very thick, high-quality product with a glossy finish. This deck also comes with some extra trick cards that may prove handy for magic shows.

PROS

  • Very thick
  • High-quality finish
  • Comes with extra trick cards for magic shows

CONS

  • The extra cards may require some skills to use

Our Rating

Price

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How We Chose Our Ratings

Honesty and accuracy are the most important qualities to us in a review. To ensure that you are getting the best overview of a product, we read and research customer reviews and testimonials, as well as the reputation of the person/company making them. On top of that, we will be researching basic information about each product to make sure you know exactly what you are purchasing.

To ensure that you are getting a completely accurate, unbiased rating, there are a few factors we will consider while reviewing the playing cards. We will be considering the aesthetic of the cards, which can be an important deciding factor for buyers. Durability, pricing, thickness, and how easily they are marked will all be considered as well.

Buyer's Guide

Now that you have seen all the different choices for playing cards, it’s time to consider what is important to you. It is a good idea to keep in mind the aesthetic that you want the cards to have. Some designs are vintage; some are more modern – it all depends on what you prefer.

It is also a good idea to consider what types of tricks you will be doing, and how the different card choices will affect those tricks. Make sure to find a durability and quality choice that works with what you are using them for.

No matter what you end up choosing, this list has a great array of choices that will work perfectly for your magic tricks.

Which of these designs looks the best to you? If you own one of these, would you recommend it to others?

How to Make and Use the Invisible Deck

Card Tricks, Stage Magic

The invisible deck is a trick deck of cards with nearly endless possibilities. It is also known as an imaginary deck, and to magicians, it is referred to as a utility deck. It’s a great deck of cards to have in your repertoire as a magician because you can perform many tricks. You can convince strangers that you are a powerful magician. All it takes is a matter of seconds to prove your powers.

The invisible deck is not a sleight of hand trick. Its effects are not achieved because of the way you deal the cards or hold the cards. Nothing is up to your sleeve. The secret lies entirely in the deck itself and the way you arrange it.

invisible deck
How to Perform with an Invisible Deck

The classic way of performing the trick is that a magician asks someone from the audience to imagine a deck of cards. The audience member mimes shuffling this imaginary deck of cards, and then removes a card from the deck. Then pretends to look at the imaginary card, memorizes, then to place it back faces down with the rest of the cards.

At this point, the magician brings out the real deck of cards. The magician asks the volunteer what card he or she picked. Then the magician fans out the deck of cards and explains that they are all face up except for the card that the volunteer picked from the imaginary.

For example, the volunteer reveals that he/she picked the 5 of diamonds, the magician would fan out the card until he hit upon one face-down card. He removes the card and flips it over, revealing the 5 of diamonds.

Tailor Your Routine to FIt the Audience and the Setting

Variations of this trick involve the illusion of mind reading. Rather than miming picking a card from a deck, audience members are asked to simply picture a card in their heads. When the magician produces the exact card that the audience member picked, the magician seems to read their minds.

Once you know how this trick works, you can apply its principles to a broader range of tricks and truly appear to be able to read minds at will. You can always lengthen or shorten the trick depending on the effect that you want to achieve.

invisible deck
The Invisible Deck For Street Magicians

If you were doing a bit of street magic, you might want to do the trick quickly. However, if you were performing on stage, you might want to draw it out more. You might ask the volunteers to keep narrowing down their choices to add to the suspense. First, ask them to pick either even or odd numbers. From there, make them choose spades or diamonds. The more choices you make the volunteer make, the more the anticipation builds.

For parties or street magic the trick works best in a quick flash. You just walk up to a person and ask them to name a card. They say the 2 of hearts, and you pull out your box of cards. You remove the deck from the package and let the person observe that all the cards are face up. All the cards are face up except one card. You pull out the face-down card, flip it over to reveal the 2 of hearts and then put the deck back in the package and walk away.

In this scenario, doing the trick once and quickly, it helps to leave your audience bewildered. You just swooped in, dropped a magical bomb, and then in a flash; you’re gone. How on Earth did you do that? They might beg to do it again to try to figure it out, but one taste is all they get.

How the Invisible Card Trick Works

So how does it work? How can a magician, without sleight of hand, get the exact card that someone said out loud from a pack of cards? Not to mention it hasn’t gone out from the pack yet. It sounds like it must be complicated, but again, the unique construction of the deck does all the work.

You can purchase a pack of cards for the invisible card trick, or you can make your own. Either method employs the rough and smooth technique. This is used in many magic tricks. When applied to cards it means that one side of the deck is rough, and one side is smooth. Since the texture is different, the cards can stick together or pull apart, depending on the touch of the dealer.

In this trick, the cards are rough on their backside, so they stick together. This means that both sides of the deck when fanned out, are face up. On one side of the hand, even number and on the other side are the odd numbers.

Getting the Cards Arranged Properly

The aces are worth 1, the Jacks are worth 11, the queens are 12, and the kings are 13. Each pair of cards is arranged so that the pair adds up to the number 13. The kings are paired together. Red kings are odd, and black kings are even. Hearts are always paired with spades, and diamonds are always paired with clubs.

This system of arranging the cards allows you to quickly locate the correct card and slide it face down among the other face-up cards. It’s a system that requires practice to get it right. Here are a few examples to help get the point across:

Begin The Invisible Deck Trick

Okay, so you go up to someone at a party and ask them to name a card. They name the 8 of clubs. You take your deck out of the box so that the odd numbered cards are facing up. You know that eight plus 5 equals 13 and that diamonds are paired with clubs. That means that as you fan the deck out, you are looking for the 5 of diamonds.

You are looking for the 5 of diamonds because you know that it is paired with the 8 of clubs. When you find the 5 of diamonds, you push the 8 of clubs out from behind it. It will appear face down in the deck. When you flip it over, voila. It’s kind of a mic drop moment.

If someone were to say the ace of spades, what would you do? Aces are worth 1, so need the card that is worth 12. That’s a queen. Spades are paired with hearts, so you need to find the queen of hearts. Once you’ve got the queen of hearts, you just need to gingerly slide the ace of spades out from behind it.

invisible deck
Tips to Perform it with Ease

There are two things to remember when you perform this trick after you have mastered the system of arranging the cards.

The first thing is how you take the cards out of the box. If someone asks for an odd numbered card, you remove the cards from the box where the even numbers are facing up. If someone asks for an even card, then you remove them with the odd numbers facing up.

The second thing is how hard, or light your touch needs to be on the cards. When you fan them out to find the correct card your touch needs to be light. If you are too heavy-handed, the cards will begin to separate, and the trick is a bust.

When you get the right card, you have to have enough quick force with your fingers to slide the rough-sided card free. If the cards stick together, you’ve botched the trick.

Where to Get the Invisible Deck

You can purchase an invisible deck from lots of online sources, but you can also make your own. The advantage of making your own is that you can turn any deck of cards into an invisible deck.

All you need is a deck of cards and a can of matte finish clear spray paint. Lay the cards face down on a surface that is out in the open to spray paint on. Spray the backs of all the cards and let them dry thoroughly. Then arrange the cards according to the above system.

The thin layer of spray paint makes the backside of the cards just tacky and rough enough so that they stick together. Remember, you’re not trying to glue the cards together, you want enough resistance to keep them from fanning out when you display them to the audience.

Appear Truly Magical to Your Audience

With the right deck and practice, you’ll be able to perform the trick that will leave people mesmerized and dumbfounded. They’ll know that it was a trick, but they will ponder it over with the only conclusion that you are truly magical and a mind-reading expert. That’s a pretty nice return on a pack of cards and a little bit of memorization.