A Poker Player’s Picnic

You shuffle a deck of regular cards and hand them to the spectator. The spectator cuts the deck into 4 piles. He picks up the first pile and fools with the order of the cards, then repeats this action for the other 3 piles. When you turn over the top cards of each pile, the spectator sees that they are all aces.

First say this or something like it to the spectator: “you know that cheating at poker is really very easy, don’t you? You look like a good poker player. I’m sure you are able to cheat pretty good, right? Well, let’s see if we can uncover your hidden talent.”

1: Before you begin, place all 4 aces on top of the deck.

2: Shuffle the deck a few times, using a fake overhand shuffle or any other fake shuffle that will protect the top 4 cards.

3: Give the cards to the spectator and have him cut the deck into 4 piles (one of which contains all 4 aces).

4: Label the 4 packets A, B, C, and D (D containing the 4 aces).

5: Tell the spectator to pick up packet A, take 3 cards from the top and place them on the bottom, then deal a card from the packet he is holding onto each of the other three packets (B, C, D).

6: Repeat step 5 for the other 3 packets.

7: Remark that you have in no way manipulated the cards and the spectator cut the deck himself into 4 piles.

8: Finally, turn over the top card of each pile and to his astonishment, each card is an ace.