Using the double lift- '2 Card Monte'

Alright everyone. We just learned how to do the double lift. Now it is time to take that skill to a whole new level. The next trick that we are going to do is called '2 Card Monte. This trick was also performed by David Blaine and involves two of the skills that we have learned thus far. It involves misdirection and the use of the double lift. David performed this trick for some professional football players and they loved it and so will everyone else you show it to. This trick does take some time to get down the mannerisms of it but once you have them down pat, you are ready to amaze some people. The good thing about this trick is that you do not need any duplicates or anything like that. A normal deck of cards will do.

The effect: You, the magician, shows a spectator the ace of spades and place it in between there thumb and index finger; so that they are pinching it. You then pick up the next card on the deck which is the ace of clubs, show it to them, and quickly jab the card in between the card that is being held on to by their finger and thumb. After a few more gestures, the spectator than flips over the two cards revealing 2 completely different cards.

The preparation: Before you even start this trick, there is a certain setup you need to do beforehand. You need to set the deck up as follows: Ace of clubs on top, queen of hearts, ace of spades and then the queen of diamonds on the bottom of the packet.

The performance: Alright. So we have the deck all set up and ready to use. The first step to the trick is an easy one. Just flip over the top card revealing that it is in fact the ace of spades. Place it in between their finger and thumb. Now here comes the first part where it takes a little bit of skill. Do a double lift of the next 2 cards on the deck showing that it is the ace of clubs. Flip them back over and take the top card in your hand.
(Make sure to tell them not to look at the cards unless you say its okay.) Jab the card in between the other card quickly and do it again right away. Tell them that you just switched cards. They wont believe you so do it again in slow mo, this time actually taking out the ace of spades from their hand and placing the queen of diamonds in their hand. Now ask them what card should be in their hand. They should say one of the aces. Now as your talking to them and keeping eye contact( misdirection) you need to take the card in your hand and swap it with the one that is on the bottom of the deck. This sounds like it cant be done with out them seeing it but believe me, if you have good misdirection skills, they wont even see it happen. You should now have the other queen in your hand. You can now place the card back in between their fingers. You can now ask them questions like which card should be on top or would you be impressed if the cards were reversed in order? They can now turn over their cards and their reactions should be a good one!

The 2 card Monte is a trick for the ages. It never gets old and people just really seem to enjoy it. Practice, practice, practice than perform. Those are the 4 P's. Do them always and the tricks should go well.