Arts & Entertainment, Home & Lifestyle

Card Magic

Lesson time 22:16 min

Learn the fundamental moves in card magic that can unlock a world of tricks at your fingertips.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Demonstrating a "Force Trick:" The Whispering Queen • How to Force a Card: "The Glide" • Knowing a Card Location: The "Key Card" • The Whispering Queen • Card to Impossible Location • The Circus Card Trick: Introducing the Key Card Principle

Penn & Teller

Teach the Art of Magic

In their first-ever MasterClass, Teller breaks his silence as he and Penn teach their approach to creating moments of wonder and astonishment.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - Card tricks. Many magicians, their whole careers-- nothing but card tricks. Their whole act is nothing but this. They'll do nothing but card tricks. But you know, to start card tricks you need to know how to know what cards someone's selected. Lot of card tricks come down to that. And that is called the card force-- making someone think they had a free choice while actually knowing what card they're going to pick. That's called a card force. We've got a couple of them we're going to teach you. The other way is to have someone pick a card and then be able to find what that card is. That's called a card location. We'll teach you one of those, too. And we're going to be joined by Johnny Thompson, one of the greatest magicians and greatest card people in the world. The basics of all card magic, coming up right now. - What I'd like to do-- this is a real pick a card trick. So the whole audience can see it. While I turn my back, would you remove one card out of the deck so that the audience and the camera can see it while my back is turned. Have you done that? DAVID: Mm-hmm. - David, hold on to the card as I gather these up. May I have the card face down. Place it on top of the deck. There are many ways to mix cards. For instance, poker players shuffle cards like this. Sometimes they cut them. Sometimes they don't. If you really want to mix them, you take half the deck and turn it face up, the other half face down. That half is face down. That half is face up. I don't know where your card lies at this particular point. But watch carefully. When you shuffle cards like this, you can absolutely see that they're being mixed. Can you see that? Like so. Now look it. Some of the cards are face up. Some are face down. Some are face up. In general, that was your last card. In general, they're completely mixed. Can you see that? Back to back, face to face. In general, completely mixed. Watch carefully. Don't take your eyes off the cards. Put your hand on top. What was the name of your card for the first time, David? - Nine of clubs. - Did you see or feel anything happen when I did that? - - That's cause I didn't do it yet. How about now? I did it. You missed it. Remember the cards are face up and face down and back to back and face to face? And I-- take your hand away. When I spread these out, they've all straightened out except for one card-- your card, the nine of clubs. Thank you very much. - There's more magic in cards than anything else. And the possibilities with cards are endless. We have with us Johnny Thompson. He's been working with us over 20 years. Considered by everybody to be the greatest magician alive. He's going to show us a little bit of magic. Then we're going to show you just some basic principles of card magic. And the great thing about learning basic principles of card magic is it really is-- and this is d...

About the Instructor

With more than 40 years performing together, Penn & Teller have sold out shows around the world, earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and created the longest-running headline act in Las Vegas. Now the legendary magicians are taking you behind the curtain. Learn fundamental magic tricks and the psychological tools that create amazement, at home or on stage. Expand your perception of the possible.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Penn & Teller

In their first-ever MasterClass, Teller breaks his silence as he and Penn teach their approach to creating moments of wonder and astonishment.

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