
But a lot of magic tricks have really, really mundane answers.
One magician for which I was able to tell a friend exactly how a particular show was done (and I did warn them it would be a major spoiler) was Derren Brown, and my friend’s response was “oh, that’s it? Kinda wish you hadn’t told me”
Much, much better to work it out for yourself.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 10:26, Reply)

David Blaine is a good example.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 11:28, Reply)

Having a complicated hidden mechanism, and just having a stooge or relying on camera angles, though.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 11:36, Reply)

Otherwise the fourth ace would need to be present in both halves.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 12:06, Reply)

you pointed to this pile, that means (it must here/ we eliminate this pile).
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 12:09, Reply)

He didn't say in advance what he was going to do with the chosen half, so could either say that the half selected contains the ace or that it contains the card indicating the ace's position in the other half.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 12:12, Reply)

And he had to tell them to stop embarrassing themselves.
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 17:17, Reply)

It's so simple it's hard to see any room for shenanigans - so many tricks are complex enough that you're left thinking there are ways it could have been done, but that left me with nothing but an open mouth!
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 12:48, Reply)

Or is he holding his hands and fingers like that as a misdirection?
( , Sun 12 Jul 2020, 16:14, Reply)

you see his hands disappearing below the table several times.
Also you only need slight difference in rigged cards to feel for in cutting. tiny size differences that aren't that apparent (or he shows a uniform deck and switches in a rigged one) or they can be treated with an extra tacky edge coating. human fingertips are very sensitive, you can feel things too small for your eye to see, and can be trained
( , Mon 13 Jul 2020, 4:19, Reply)

And though I didn't do many card tricks I did one very intricate one at a dinner party that started with somebody selecting a card straight out of a sealed pack from a riffle. The trick was in doctoring the card to make it slightly shorter, then meticulously resealing the pack. I then tore the corner off the card, put the remainder in an envelope and burned it. About an hour later somebody peeled an orange and found the 'same' card compete with the matching torn corner in the middle of an orange. I thought they would be impressed but the party just descended into a huge argument, so a lot of effort for nothing and I didn't do that one again.
( , Mon 13 Jul 2020, 10:59, Reply)