Some people that's been to Taiko the past couple of days know that I have been learning and performing a couple of magic tricks and routines.  I have always liked magic, or should I say illusions.  I remember when I was in middle school, I used to take magic lessons from a friend of my father.  Vito Lupo is his name, and if anyone see Vito or talks to him please tell him to give me a call.  Next time you're in the restaurant, ask me to do a trick or two.  Which brings us to our BLOG entry today.    A good ol' card trick.   Have fun with it and I'll see you soon.  Thanks for everything guys.

Have a spectator select a card from your shuffled deck. After it is replaced to the top, control it to the bottom, using an overhand shuffle control. Basically, slide the top card off, then shuffle the rest of the deck casually on top of it. After this, simply keep the card on the bottom by pulling it off with the fingers of the hand catching the cards.

Explain to the spectator that with absolute confidence, and extreme concentration, one can cut to a desired card. Tell them they must concentrate, and they must say to themselves "To the chosen card I will cut."

Tell them to cut about a third of the cards off the top of the deck and place them to the right of the deck. Then have them cut half the remaining cards from the deck and place them to the right of the first third.

With three piles in front of you, (the chosen card at the bottom of the left most pile). Explain that there can be no doubt that the selected card has been cut at. However it is not known which card is the chosen card. Ask the spectator to make no indication when the cards are shown. Start with the right-most pile, take it in your hand, show the bottom card, turn the deck back over, and pull the bottom card out, setting it face down on the table. Say, that was not it. Place the stack in your hand on the now right-most stack and do the same with that pile. Show the bottom card, say that wasn't it. Turn over the deck, pull out the card and set it down face down. Place the stack on the final stack.

When you turn over the final pack, you must put on your best poker face and say that unfortunately they were not able to cut to the chosen card, even though that is the chosen card. If anyone says anything while this is going on, take no notice and continue. When you turn the deck over to pull the card out, slide the bottom card back with the fingers holding the deck and pull out the second to bottom card. Place this on the table as if it were the third card.

Now pull out another card above the chosen card and use it as a pointer to point to the 3 cards on the table "one, two, three cards, none of them the chosen card." Tell the spectator that since the card was not cut to, we must find the card another way. Replace the pointer card to the bottom of the deck and show the bottom of the deck casually. This subtle motion shows that the bottom card is not the chosen card. Ask the spectator to choose a number between 5 and 10. Let's say they choose 7. Turn the deck face down, pull the bottom card off, and put it face down on the table, count "One." Next, as before, you will slide the now bottom card (the chosen card) back with the fingers of the hand holding the deck. Now pull off 5 more cards "two, three, four, five, six". Finally, pull the chosen card off and hold it in your hand face down.

Ask the spectator to name their chosen card, the card in your hand. Again acting comes in to play here, pretend to be a bit surprised and casually glance at the 3 cards placed on the table. Act a bit confused and finally annouce, "Yes! and here it is!".

Often people will shout obscenities at this point, so if you are sensitive to this type of thing, cover your ears immediately following the revelation.