Spectator is the sucker

137 entries in Cards / Effect Themes / Gags & Curiousities / Spectator is the sucker
Creators Title Comments & References Year Source Page AA Categories
To teach the Company a Trick which they Learn without Difficulty, then to allow them to Succeed or to cause them to Fail at your Pleasure deck dealt in four piles and suits separated, taught to audience and they fail or succeed
Related to 1876
Modern Magic
66
Nil homini certum est cards openly separated in suits and dealt out twice, they're separated again, performer can do it and spectator only when performer wants him to, four cards secretly palmed in or out for that
Related toVariationsAlso published here Dec. 1895
Der Zauberspiegel (Vol. 1 No. 4)
54
Nil homini certum est cards openly separated in suits and dealt out twice, they're separated again, performer can do it and spectator only when performer wants him to, four cards secretly palmed in or out for that
Also published here 1896
Der moderne Kartenkünstler
90
Ben-Zur Nur wahre Kunst macht frei version to do the suit separation with a full deck of thirty-two cards
Inspired by Dec. 1904
Der Zauberspiegel (Vol. 5 No. 1)
4
Lu Brent Gagging the Sucker Make spectator think he/she can do the trick you just showed, but when they try they get a funny message written on a card
 		1932
Novel Magic
40
Circus Card Trick to prepare for twenty-sixth location
 		1940
Expert Card Technique
398
Laurie Ireland Deuces and Trays sucker ambitious twice, deuces shown as threes and transform in threes when spectator protests
 		1940
Ireland's Yearbooks (Issue Yearbook 1940)
15
The Circus Trick
1941/27
Tarbell Course in Magic — Volume 1
267
Circus Card Trick "the next card I turn over..."
 		1948
The Royal Road to Card Magic
138
The Trey transforming card into "tray"
 		1948
The Royal Road to Card Magic
146
Russell "Rusduck" Duck No Misdirection trick to play on people who want to show performer a trick, heckler gag
 		July 1948
The Phoenix (Issue 154)
619
Tony Slydini Card over the Head card secretly shot above spectator's head
 		June 1949
Hugard's Magic Monthly (Vol. 7 No. 1)
555
Charles "Chic" Schoke Chic's Parlay bet about the order of the Aces as they show up when dealing through the deck after riffle shuffles
Related to 1949
52 Amazing Card Tricks
41
John Scarne The Betting Card Trick No. 42, "The next card I turn over will be your card" sucker gag
 		1950
Scarne on Card Tricks
75
Paul LePaul Ace Delusion Ace of Hearts poses as Diamonds, spectators see through this, then it really is the Diamond, sucker
Related to 1950
Magical Gems
39
Dr. William Weyeneth, Rolf Andra Ein reizender kleiner Gag sucker type stop trick, miniature card of selection on first finger
 		1956
Hokus Pokus (Vol. 17 No. 1)
403
Ronald B. Edwards No Two Ways 2&2, presented as a puzzle in which the cards cannot be put in an alternating order from the faces and the backs simultaneously
Variations Mar. 1958
Ibidem (Issue 13)
11
Yarborough Problem probability of getting no card higher than Nine in a quarter of the deck, quote from "Mathematics and Logic" by Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker
 		Sep. 1958
Ibidem (Issue 14)
5
Al Leech A Subtle Sucker Effect
1959
Cardmanship
15
Edward Marlo Two Card Monte DeLand's Two Card Monte with pairs of roughed cards
 		Dec. 1959
Ibidem (Issue 19)
35
Paul Stadelman Watch the Ace sucker effect, Three changes to Ace and back, then it changes inside spectator's pocket
 		1966
Ireland's Yearbooks (Issue Yearbook 1965-66)
81
Paul Stadelman A H--- of a Trick verbal gag using cards, for dealing with heckler
 		1966
Ireland's Yearbooks (Issue Yearbook 1965-66)
84
Robert Eagle Repeat Circus Card Trick with duplicate
 		Dec. 1966
The Pallbearers Review Vol. 1-4 (Vol. 2 No. 2)
71
Alan Keith Prelude "Circus Card Trick" to set up key cards
Inspired by 1969
Expert Card Mysteries
136
Paul Swinford The Match Game spectator looses always
 		1971
More Faro Fantasy
40
Jerry K. Hartman Fast Draw spectator’s card is reversed in deck unseen, magicians displays another card for himself, faceup deck is dealt through to see whose card turns up first, when spectator thinks he won, turn over his reversed card to show it is also your card, letter to Karl Fulves dated 9/29/69
Inspired by 1971
Odd Lifts
18
Roy Walton An Illogical Conclusion four red cards are changed with four face down cards on the table one by one, cards in the hand remain always red and spectators assume face down cards are red too, they are shown to be black eventually
VariationsAlso published here 1972
Tale Twisters
5
Glide Gag stop trick with sucker element
 		1972
The Living End
64
Baffles Brush Evens and Middles sucker trick, apparently card is among dealt cards
 		1972
The Living End
65
Sucker Gag "the next card I turn over..."
 		1972
The Living End
65
H. Adrian Smith A Selected Card Revealed
1972
The Living End
67
T. Page Wright, William Larsen A Mind Reading Interlude
1972
The Living End
69
Orville Wayne Meyer Something Screwey sucker element, three spectators select same card, card ends up in pocket
 		1972
The Living End
78
George Sands Criss Cross Nines through Aces removed and sorted in reds and blacks, dealing procedure on table mixes and then sorts the colors again, spectator cannot duplicate it
credit information, see also p. 812 for Marlo claim
Related toVariationsAlso published here
  • "Unbeatable" (George Sands, Sep. 1951, p. 14)
 Oct. 1974
The Pallbearers Review Vol. 9-10 (Vol. 9 No. 12)
816
Karl Fulves Color Blind no-palm handling of Criss Cross, Nines through Aces removed and sorted in reds and blacks, dealing procedure on table mixes and then sorts the colors again, spectator cannot duplicate it, see p. 1053 for comment
Inspired by Nov. 1974
The Pallbearers Review Vol. 9-10 (Vol. 10 No. 1)
822
Francis Carlyle Sucker Tricks
  • false bottom change
  • all cards alike using top change (Johnny Paul)
  • card on forehead
 		1975
The Magic of Francis Carlyle
96
Roy Walton Eine Unlogische Schlussfolgerung four red cards are changed with four face down cards on the table one by one, cards in the hand remain always red and spectators assume face down cards are red too, they are shown to be black eventually
Also published here Feb. 1975
Intermagic (Vol. 2 No. 3)
63
The Circus Card Trick sucker, "the next card I turn over..."
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
15
Odd-Even Bet spectator cuts part of deck in piles, "there will be an odd number of heaps containing an odd number of cards"
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
16
Two Reds and Two Blacks bet about order of two red and black cards
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
18
Suit Bet proposition bet about suit distribution in three selected cards
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
18
Pair Bet proposition bet about matches in turned-up pairs
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
18
Ace, Deuce or Jack Bet bet about values of bottom cards of three cut packets
  • Variations
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
19
Queen Bet proposition bet with six cards, two of them being Queens
  • Variation
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
19
Deck Cutting Bet proposition bet about spectator not cutting to a named card in twenty-six tries
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
19
Two-Together Bet proposition bet about a named value and suit being next to each other
  • Variation
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
20
Four Ace Proposition proposition bet about not turning all four Aces up in thirty-nine cards
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
20
Combination Bet two values named, they are either among top three cards or next to each other in the deck, proposition bet
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
20
Four-Heap Combination Bet proposition bet about suit distribution in some randomly dealt packets
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
20
Two Deck Bet proposition bet about a match occurring when dealing through two shuffled deck simultaneously
 		1975
Gambling Tricks with Cards — Part Two
21
A Sporting Proposition No. 2, Circus Card Trick, sucker
Related to 1976
Self-Working Card Tricks
4
Ken De Courcy Even Stephen intro to multi-phase proposition bet routine with cards, see following entries
 		1976
Even Stephen
2
Ken De Courcy Bet 1 proposition bet about finding a value next to a suit so they match a named card
 		1976
Even Stephen
3
Ken De Courcy Bet 2 proposition bet about having two cards of same suit amongst four random cards
 		1976
Even Stephen
4
Ken De Courcy Bet 3 proposition bet about having one of three values on top of three cut packets
 		1976
Even Stephen
4
Ken De Courcy Bet 4 proposition bet about dealing two cards of same value amongst any random six cards
 		1976
Even Stephen
5
Ken De Courcy Bet 5 proposition bet about finding a black card when turning over any three cards of a seven card group with two blacks
 		1976
Even Stephen
5
Ken De Courcy Bet 6 proposition bet about having a black card in a random row or column of a 3x3 matrix with only two blacks
 		1976
Even Stephen
6
Ken De Courcy Bet 7 proposition bet about not being able to cut to a named card in twenty-six tries
 		1976
Even Stephen
8
Ken De Courcy Bet 8 proposition bet about not finding all Aces in the top thirty-nine cards
 		1976
Even Stephen
8
Ken De Courcy Bet 9 proposition bet about the spectator cutting an odd number of piles containing an odd number of cards
 		1976
Even Stephen
9
Ken De Courcy Bet 10 proposition bet about cutting an even number of piles containing an odd number of cards
 		1976
Even Stephen
10
Fred Lowe, Der 31-Kartentrick NIM/"The Game of 31" with cards
 		Aug. 1980
Intermagic (Vol. 7 No. 2)
54
Steve Dusheck Monte Zuma two cards, one held behind back, spectator always guesses wrong
Also published here 1980 ca.
Lecture No. 1
11
Roy Walton An Illogical Conclusion four red cards are changed with four face down cards on the table one by one, cards in the hand remain always red and spectators assume face down cards are red too, they are shown to be black eventually
Also published here 1981
The Complete Walton — Volume 1
111
Betcha circus card trick
 		1982
Simple yet Effective Tricks with Cards
24
, Peter Kane An Ancient Coin Con Game stack of coins sits on table, betting on orientation of bottom coin
  • With Cards (deck shuffled face-up/face-down, betting on orientation of bottom card)
 		1982
Kane
15
Stephen Tucker Ambassador Card seen by spectator to be on top, random card removed from center of deck shown to be selection instead (sucker type effect)
 		1984
The Card-Mad-gic of Stephen Tucker
44
George Sands, Karl Fulves Criss Cross No. 48, simplified, Nines through Aces removed and sorted in reds and blacks, dealing procedure on table mixes and then sorts the colors again, spectator cannot duplicate it
Inspired by 1984
More Self-Working Card Tricks
62
Speak of the Devil No. 58, spectator ends up with losing value, PATEO
Variations 1984
More Self-Working Card Tricks
83
Jean Hugard Do It and Fail with 28/32 card deck a layout and dealing game is explained, the spectator always fails at it
 		1985
The Fred Braue Notebooks (Issue 4)
29
Dai Vernon The Third Color spectator looses when guessing on color of third card repeatedly, double deal
Related toAlso published here 1988
The Vernon Chronicles — Volume 2
180
Ray Grismer Three Out of Four Hi-Lo Aces and Faces punched
 		1988
The Punch Letters
10
Ray Grismer Hi-Lo Even Money Aces and Faces punched
 		1988
The Punch Letters
10
Peter Wilker Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten spectator ends up with losing value, PATEO, using chips with numbers
Inspired by 1988
Magische Blätter (Vol. 2 No. 4)
1
Peter Kane The Three Time Loser spectator can apparently win money but never does, using Ace through Five layout
 		1988 ca.
Kane's Variant
3
Peter Kane The Great Purse Swindle spectator can apparently win money but never does, using five flat purses and ten cards
 		1988 ca.
Kane's Variant
5
Karl Fulves A Fortune spectator cuts off packet and then counts down to make a selection (10-20 handling), value is looked up on chart and spectator loses
 		1989
Easy-to-Do Card Tricks for Children
27
Gazzo Macee A Gentlemen's Game routine about the game High Card, Aces end up in performer's pocket
 		Sep. 1991
The Minotaur (Vol. 3 No. 3)
5
Stephen Tucker One Hand Top Palm Ideas
  • The Force
  • The Switch
  • The Sucker Effect
  • The Visible Rise (visual ending for Ambitious Card)
 		1991
New Close-Up Lecture
1
Vanni Bossi A Second Deal, Second to None... sucker stop trick, Second Deal gag, card sticks to thumb
Related to 1991
Escorial 1991 — The Erdnase Year
25
Rudolf Braunmüller Aufsitzer & Bierwetten collection of bar bets
  • Verschiedene Wetten
    • Die dreifache Gemeinheit (drinking shot glass under hat without touching)
    • Für Trinkfeste (drinking three beers faster than someone else three shot glasses)
    • Beantwortungs-Wetten
    • Münzenwetten
    • Eine Pokerwette (cards taken openly from face-up deck, yet spectator loses)
    • Die nächste Karte, die ich umdrehe, ist Ihre! (Circus Card trick)
  • Zauberer-Wetten (for magicians)
    • Der Center Tear
    • Der Münzenschnipper
    • Mental-Farbwürfel
    • Der Faro-Mischkünstler
 		June 1991
Intermagic (Vol. 16 No. 2)
79
David Harkey, Eric Anderson Budge! spectator cannot remove deck from case, but performer can, then same with half the deck and a single card
 		1991
Simply Harkey
79
Steve Dusheck Monte Zuma two cards, one held behind back, spectator always guesses wrong
Inspired by
  • Two Card Monte (DeLand)
Also published here 		1992
Dusheck's Card Magic
72
Bob Farmer I've Got Fifty Bucks That Says This Is A Shotgun And I Am Elvis bet that one of the top cards of three random piles matches one of three randomly named digits from a bill's serial number
Also published here
  • Bill Simon's Mathematical Magic
 Jan. 1993
Magic (Vol. 2 No. 5)
59
Bob Farmer Three Card Monty Hall
  • Flim-Flam
on the monte hall problem
Related to
  • "The Elusive Ace" (Martin Gardner Presents, p. 228)
 May 1993
Magic (Vol. 2 No. 9)
61
Bob Farmer Satanic Mechanic betting on which Ace will show up first, proposition bet
 		July 1993
Magic (Vol. 2 No. 11)
59
Bob Farmer Napoleon Meets His Watermelon nim with three rows of cards
 		July 1993
Magic (Vol. 2 No. 11)
59
Bob Farmer The Game of 31 Ace through Six on table, numbers added until in turn until 31 is reached, performer always wins
Related to 1994
Beat 'em, Cheat 'em, Leave 'em Bleedin'
18
Bob Farmer Svengali Monte monte type betting routine with the deck cut into three piles, optional clean ending
 		1994
Beat 'em, Cheat 'em, Leave 'em Bleedin'
22
Bob Farmer Two-Card Monte
  • Flim-Flam
two cards are placed face to face and turned multiple times, spectator should guess which card is face up and loses repeatedly
Inspired by
  • Deland's Two Card Monte
 June 1994
Magic (Vol. 3 No. 10)
58
Theodore DeLand Two-Card Monte brief
 		June 1994
Magic (Vol. 3 No. 10)
58
Bob Farmer La Monte Symbiotic
  • Flim-Flam
three piles on the table, spectator cannot follow top card of one pile
Related to
  • "Symbiotic Deck" (Gary Ouellet)
 Sep. 1994
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 1)
71
Bob Farmer Deck Circumspect Monty Hall type proposition bet with three cards
 		Dec. 1994
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 4)
64
Bob Farmer Deck Collect proposition bet with four Twos and two Aces
 		Dec. 1994
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 4)
64
Bob Farmer Not The Tsunami I Expected word-play scam to "divine" freely chosen card
 		Mar. 1995
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 7)
65
Bob Farmer Too Bad About That Guy, But Doesn't His Suit Fit Great proposition bet about the suits of three random cards
Related to Mar. 1995
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 7)
65
Bob Farmer The Family That Preys Together proposition bet about two values being next to each other
 		Mar. 1995
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 7)
65
Bob Farmer One Card 10/20 Poker four players name a number between ten and twenty, that card is counted to, high card wins, performer controls outcome
Related to June 1995
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 10)
68
Bob Farmer Flush With Cash proposition bet about the suits of three random cards
Related to June 1995
Magic (Vol. 4 No. 10)
68
Bob Farmer, Max Maven Fifty Years Ago in Magic
  • Flim-Flam
on the Billy O’Connor's backcount force in "One Card 10/20 Poker", back and forth letters between Max and Bob
Related to Sep. 1995
Magic (Vol. 5 No. 1)
70
Bob Farmer Marathon Scam
  • Flim-Flam
high-card scam with three sets of three cards (from three different decks)
  • Chicago Nontransitive Authority
 		Feb. 1996
Magic (Vol. 5 No. 6)
72
Bob Farmer Chased paper rock scissors type game with suits
 		Aug. 1996
Magic (Vol. 5 No. 12)
84
Ellis Stanyon The "Turned-Up" Card No. 28, circus card trick, sucker
  • Supplementary Note (reference given by Karl Fulves)
Related to 1999
Ellis Stanyon's Best Card Tricks
17
Ellis Stanyon "Thirty-one" (Simple Version) No. 12, "A Cardsharp's Trick", game in which cards are drawn alternately and the sum of the values cannot exceed thirty-one
Related toVariations 1999
Ellis Stanyon's Best Card Tricks
63
Ellis Stanyon "Thirty-one" No. 45, "A Cardsharp's Trick", more elaborate version
Related to 1999
Ellis Stanyon's Best Card Tricks
80
Bob Farmer Tuesday Night With Ahab, Einstein, And The Queen Of Halloween
  • Flim-Flam
mnemonic system for playing cards, with scam in which top cards are remembered before playing high-card type game
 		Jan. 1999
Magic (Vol. 8 No. 5)
87
Bob Farmer, Robin W. Dawes Con Quistador, Part I
  • Flim-Flam
proposition game with Ace, Two, Three and seven picture cards
Variations Feb. 1999
Magic (Vol. 8 No. 6)
92
Bob Farmer, Robin W. Dawes Con Quistador, Part II
  • Flim-Flam
proposition game with Ace, Two, Three and seven picture cards
Inspired by Mar. 1999
Magic (Vol. 8 No. 7)
83
Bob Farmer Con Fiscation
  • Flim-Flam
royal flush put on table in a row, four cards from shuffled deck placed on each to make a poker hand, proposition bet which hand will be the winning hand
 		Apr. 1999
Magic (Vol. 8 No. 8)
81
Bob Farmer Savoir Pair proposition game with Ace through Six in Clubs and Diamonds that must match or not
 		June 1999
Magic (Vol. 8 No. 10)
76
Stanley Collins Banker & Broker three piles made, the one with the highest card on the bottom wins, spectator thinks he saw an Ace on the bottom of one, Given the Slip
Related to 2000
Latter Day Secrets (Issue 3)
68
Pit Hartling Spl!t Second with card under spectator's watch climax, duplicate
Also published here Aug. 2000
Genii (Vol. 63 No. 8)
61
Bob Farmer Point Spread
  • Flim-Flam
bet how many cards are between the two cards
Inspired byVariations June 2000
Magic (Vol. 9 No. 10)
75
Tomas Blomberg Between the Cheats
  • Flim-Flam (Bob Farmer)
proposition bet in which spectator and performer each choose a four-of-a-kind and one must have less cards between them as they are distributed in the deck than the opponent
Inspired by Sep. 2000
Magic (Vol. 10 No. 1)
77
Karl Fulves Quiz Show card chosen with automatic placement procedure, ten-card groups looked at one by one, selection vanished, it is found as one of the cards placed aside at the beginning
 		2001
Discoverie (Issue 5)
68
R. Paul Wilson Punch Too sucker effect, transformation of multiple cards to match stated outcome
Inspired by
  • Larry Jennings' "Sucker Punch" in "Thoughts on Cards" video
Variations 		2002
13
24
Pit Hartling High Noon with card under spectator's watch climax, duplicate
Inspired byRelated toAlso published here 2003
Card Fictions
44
Karl Fulves Hypnot key card principle explained, key card removed without one spectator seeing it, he still locates selection
 		2003
Latter Day Secrets (Issue 8)
312
Ronald A. Wohl (Ravelli) 9. "The Next Card That I Will Turn Over Will Be Your Card!" "The Circus Trick" with no-touch force
Related to Mar. 2006
The Penumbra (Issue 10)
17
Steve Beam The Flasher spectator apparently sees card dealt into wrong pile near the end, sucker
Inspired by 2006
Semi-Automatic Card Tricks — Volume 7
160
Joel Givens Heckler Stopper spectator apparently claims that found card is wrong while everyone else believes differently
 		2007
Session
129
Tom Stone The Tutorial sucker explanation with card from lefty deck
Also published here 2010
The Liberated Djinn
15
Tom Stone The Tutorial sucker explanation with card from lefty deck
Also published here 2011
Maelstrom
203
Woody Aragón Cheeky Oil And Water sucker oil and water: small packet doesn't separate but whole deck does
 		2011
A Book in English
55
William Goodwin Reversal Tutorial one-way pseudo explanation, sucker, card turns over in the end
 		2011
Evolution
23
Darwin Ortiz Grifter's Game predicted card lies next to named card, proposition bet presentation
 		2012
Lessons in Card Mastery
19
John Born Motivation: Glued Deck Use a solid deck to stop hecklers from trying to perform with your deck
 		2012
Seeking the Bridge
123
Dai Vernon The Third Color spectator looses when guessing on color of third card repeatedly, double deal
Also published here Oct. 2013
Genii (Vol. 76 No. 10)
44
Tomas Blomberg Between the Cheats bet involving how many cards are between two random values
 		2014
Blomberg Laboratories
320
John Hostler Bar Bits Triskadequadra Application #1
as bet about the suits
  • Swindle #1
  • Swindle #2
 		2016
Magnum Opossum
64
Harapan Ong Dude, You're not even Trying competition with spectator who rights half a face-up/face-down mixed deck faster, spectator's end up mixed again while performer's magically unmix
Related to 2018
Principia
124
Jason Ladanye Game Changer fusion with spectator and performer signed cards, presented as "whose card hits the table first during the deal wins" bet
Inspired byRelated to 2018
Game Changer
37
Jason Ladanye Catch Me if You Can three sucker game phases (spectator has to catch falling card, spectator has to cover card faster than performer), ending with spectator's card to wallet
 		2018
Game Changer
57
Jason Ladanye High-Card Hustle multi-phase cutting the high card, set-up reachable via faros from new deck order, faros
 		2018
Game Changer
263
Jason Ladanye The Art of War spectator and performer each turn over cards, higher card wins, spectator loses throughout whole deck, faros
 		2018
Game Changer
325
John Hostler An Inconsistent Fooling presentation for Walton's effect with an additional set of four red cards for a pseudo-explanation, additional set changes to black at the end
Inspired by 2023
Percolations
64