How To: Perform an acrobatic card trick

Bring the circus into your home with this famed acrobatic cards trick. Watch magician Ryan Oakes teach you how to make your old deck of cards do a little dance. You will need one
deck of cards.

Sometimes we use materials that require adult supervision... like scissors, so make sure you have friends and family around whenever you do magic tricks.

1. Preparation: Remove two pairs of cards. Preferably, they will be number cards in black suits. I usually use 6 of clubs / 6 of spades and 8 of clubs / 8 of spades. Place the 6 of clubs on top of the deck and the 8 of spades on the bottom.
2. Start with the 6 of spades and 8 of clubs face down on the table.
3. Keep the deck face down so the spectator does not see the 8.
4. Turn over the pair and casually show them in one hand. Mention that you have a 'pair of cards… just a 6 and an 8.' Do not mention the suits.
5. Place the cards into the middle of the pack, in separate locations. Be sure the audience sees that they are fairly placed into the deck in the middle.
6. Hold the deck with your thumb on top and fingers on the bottom. Toss the deck from the right hand into the left hand. As you do, maintain a bit of pressure on the deck. This pressure will cause the top card (the 6) and the bottom card (the 8) to be left behind in your fingers. No one will notice that the cards are opposites from the original cards!