The late Nate Leipsig told me shortly before his death that this effect was one of the most puzzling of impromptu numbers that he had learned for several years. It is extremely simple once known but magicians will cudgel their brains in an effort to figure it out by complicated stacks and mathematics.
The deck is shuffled by a spectator and 12 cards removed. The spectator then shuffles these well, and, while the performer’s back is turned, puts any number of the 12 cards into his pocket secretly. The remaining cards that the spectator holds he shuffles, notes the face card of the bunch, and squares them upon the top of the balance of the deck. Then he deals, from the top, two rows of six face down cards each, side by side. The performer now asks the spectator to reach out and touch any card. The rest are picked up. The spectator turns the card he has touched face up. The performer looks at it and not alone TELLS THE SPECTATOR HOW MANY CARDS HE POCKETED, BUT THE NAME OF THE CARD HE LOOKED AT!
The beauty of the trick lies in the fact that the turned up card really tells nothing. After the spectator has taken out 12 cards, the performer takes the rest of the deck while the 12 are being shuffled and some of them pocketed. HE MERELY MAKES A NICE NAIL MARK AT ABOUT THE CENTER OF THE TOP AND LOWER ENDS ON THE TOP CARD OF THE DECK.
The spectator now deposits what card he has left of the 12, on top of the deck after noting the face card of the bunch. Then he deals off twelve cards in the two rows of six each.
The performer merely watches for his nicked or otherwise marked card. Including that one, and the number of cards that follow it until 12 have been dealt off in entirety, he knows how many the spectator has pocketed, and also knows that the noted card is just before the nicked one. The spectator touches any one. If he hits the chosen one, glory be! If he touches another, the performer picks up the other 11 cards face down merely being sure the noted one is on the bottom. He gets a glimpse of this card as the spectator turns over his touched card. Then the performer looks owlish and gives all details.
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