Card tricks, also known as card magic, are one of the best things to learn if you want to impress your friends or strangers in a bar. A card trick is basically an illusion. You have to use certain methods to conceal the trick and keep the spectators from discovering how you did it. You will know if your card trick was successful if at the end of the trick, both the spectators and participants are wondering how you did it.

 

It is easy to learn card tricks. You won’t need anything else except a nice deck of standard playing cards. Practice makes perfect, so make sure that before you try to impress your friends, you’ve already mastered the trick. Here are some of the top ten awesome and easy to do card tricks.

 

1. Card Forcing

 

This is a classic trick. Start by asking a person from the audience to shuffle the deck any way he wants. Ask him to give the deck back to you when he is done. As the participant hands you the deck, discreetly glance at the bottom card and remember it. Grab the deck with your left hand and slightly move the bottom card inwards about half a centimeter from the deck. Hold on to that card and deal cards from the bottom. Ask your audience to say stop as you deal the cards. When the audience says “stop,” get that bottom card you held onto, and say that that will be their secret card. Ask them to look at that card, and remember it. Give your volunteer the deck back, turn your back, and let him shuffle until he is satisfied. Search for that card when he hands you back the deck.

 

2. The Psychic

 

You will need nine cards from the deck and one partner for this trick. Pick a few people from the audience and let them shuffle the deck. Ask them to select nine cards and put them face down on the desk in rows of three. Exit the room and leave your partner behind. Ask a person from the audience to go with you to make sure you’re not “cheating.” While you are outside the room, ask the audience to pick one card out of the nine before you return. When you return to the room, your partner is holding the remaining deck, with his or her thumb pointing at the card that was chosen. Pick out that card.

 

3. Black Magic

 

In this trick, you will need a partner and a deck of cards. Shuffle the cards and fan them face up, making sure that every card is seen. Pick one person from the audience and ask her to select a card from the deck and whisper it to your partner. Now your partner will point to the cards on the deck and you will just say “yes” or “no” if the card pointed to is the one. The secret here is that your partner will point to any red cards first, and you should say no until he points to a black card. The next card pointed to is the card itself, and that is the time you should say yes. To make the trick more challenge, have yourself blindfolded with your back against your partner, and ask your partner to read out the cards; again, you will know if it is the right card if it is preceded by any black card.

 

4. I Know What Your Card Is!

 

Secretly arrange the cards in an ascending manner according to suit before starting this trick. Now hold out the deck to your audience and ask one of them to pick a card from anywhere in the deck without showing it to you. Ask him or her to put it back anywhere in the deck, still without you looking. Take the deck and look for the card that is out of place because that will be the card that was chosen. Hold out that card to the audience and ask the participant if that is the card he or she chose.

 

5. Best in Math

 

Before you start this trick, place the four sevens on top of the deck, and then put the deck back into the box. Begin the trick by asking your audience who among them is good at math. Hand the cards over to him. Instruct the volunteer to take the top four cards without looking at them. Tell him or her that you’re going to ask five questions, and that he or she should answer them as fast as possible. Ask the following questions: 1+1, 2+2, 4+4, and 8+8. The last question is to ask them to pick any number between 5 and 12. The majority of the answers you will get (a whopping 98 percent) is seven. Now ask your volunteer to look at the cards. He will be amazed at how you influenced him to choose 7 as his number.

 

6. Name that Card

 

For this trick, you will need your deck of cards and a volunteer. Hand the deck to your volunteer and ask that it be shuffled. After he is done shuffling, get the deck back while discreetly glancing at the bottom card. Tell your audience that you can name that card even if it is behind your back. Now put that deck behind your back and cut it in half. Let the other half face the opposite direction. Announce the first card that you see at the bottom, and show them the deck afterwards. Be careful that they don’t see the other side facing you. Now put it the deck behind your back, flip the deck over, and announce the card (the one facing you when you announced the first card).

 

7. Card Matching

 

Begin this trick by handing your deck of cards to a willing volunteer. Ask that volunteer to pick a card and tell her to put the card she chose face down on the deck. Ask her to pick cards from the bottom of the deck corresponding to the card she chose. For example, if the volunteer got a four of diamonds, then four cards must be placed on top of the deck. Without looking, ask your volunteer to read the cards out loud while you determine which card was chosen. The trick here is to do the counting yourself while your volunteer reads. Start your count after the first card has been read. When the volunteer reads a card that matches your counting – for example, if your count is 4, and the card that was read is a four of hearts, then that is the card that was chosen.

 

8. Nice Move

 

This is a simple trick that never fails to amuse people. Before you start this trick, make sure you know the top card. Now flip through the deck and ask your audience to tell you where to stop. Cut the deck where your finger starts, it does not matter where. Place the second half of the deck on the table, but before doing so, use your thumb to quickly slide the top card into the second half. Let your audience see the top card, and announce the card. Look at their surprised faces.

 

9. Bottoms Up

 

Give your deck of cards to a person in the audience and tell him to shuffle it. Discreetly look at the bottom card. Get the deck with your left hand and cover it with your right hand. Use your middle and ring finger to try to pull the bottom card up while your right thumb cuts the deck into two. In a swift motion, pull the bottom card (which you already know) along with the upper half of the deck. Flash that half to the audience and announce the card. Do the trick again if you fail to convince them.

 

10. The Kings are Drinking Buddies

 

Make this card trick interesting by telling a story. Start by taking about the four kings in the deck, and telling your audience that these four kings are drinking buddies who do not allow anything to get in between them. Get two additional cards, making it a total of six. Hide those non-king cards behind the other kings, and make sure the audience does not see them. Now put those six cards on top of the deck in a way that the two non-kings are placed in between the two pairs of kings. Now place the two kings at the bottom of the deck, and the two non-king cards anywhere in the middle. The audience will be thinking that you placed the four kings at the bottom and in the middle. Now cut the deck and place the lower half on top the upper. Place the deck on the table face up, and fan it. Behold, the kings are back together again.

 

You may have seen people do these card tricks before. You can perform them too, but the key is constant practice. The masters did not perfect these magic tricks overnight. Start with simple tricks and slowly make your way up to complex ones.

 

The fun and popularity that comes with it should definitely motivate you to learn magic tricks. Your life could use a spice of some online magic tricks.