A neat version of the think of a card spelling principle is to be had in this effect, and it also brings out a nice mixing idea of which I wasn’t aware. I’ll describe the working as I go along.
Have six extra cards to match your deck and they are such that they can be arranged to spell out with 10-11-12-13-14-15 letters. I’ve been using the AC-6H-JS-8H-9D-QD. Take these same cards from the pack proper and arrange them as above from back to face. Put them on the deck with three cards above (any three from the deck). On top of all, put the six duplicates regardless of order. Start by using about half of the pack, but without calling attention to it, you take the top 27 cards. Run off a few cards (the top six) and hand them to a spectator with the request that he look them over, think of just one, and then shuffle them so that not even he himself knows where his card is. Taking the packet back, drop them onto the top of the cards in hand and proceed to deal them singly into a row of three face down piles from left to right. Pick up the piles from left to right, the first going on the second and the combined two on the third. Repeat the dealing twice, making three deals. Then hand the cards to the spectator who deals them face down, spells his card letter by letter with each card dealt, and on the last letter he turns it up and finds his card!
You can readily see that at the start, the six cards put back on top plus the three cards above the second set of six make just enough to automatically spell out those cards no matter which is thought of. The three deals described bring the 27 cards back to that same position!
Tell them that the dealing is of a strange nature which brings the thought of card into an odd position. I’ve presented it simply as a sort of puzzle, and I have seen magicians who knew the automatic spelling principle study and worry over the shuffling of the six and the deal. For those who don’t want the extra cards for the mixing feature, just hand the six cards from off the top but have them in order. Then, while the spectator is thinking of one, run nine cards off and have the bunch of six replaced at this point. Now make the three deals and finish.
However, you can fool the wise fellow who knows cards by using the first version above.
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