Pick A Card Any Card – A Popular Saying In Magic


The phrase ‘pick a card any card!’ is a common phrase used by magicians on a volunteer or a random audience member when they are performing card tricks.

One might wonder why all magic tricks related to cards have this dialogue but it is absolutely essential to grab the attention of people and to put them into the mood for magic by stirring their curiosity.

The truth is that the task of making a person from the audience pick a card from a deck of cards is the basis of all tricks related to cards.

So if you were to perform any card trick then you too would need to take a deck of cards, spread it out in front of your audience and ask one of them to pick a card any card.

Even though that may be the base of all card tricks there are a few exceptions like the popular 2 Card Monty.

However, when considered from a general point of view, card games usually require the task of picking one random card out of the deck and giving it to the magician, who would, with the help of some fancy hand movements, dialogues and some dramatisation make the card disappear and reappear in various places.

The difference between an ordinary card trick and an extraordinary one lies in the things the magician does to the selected card.

The magician can choose to reveal the card in astonishing ways that would get the spectators talking about it for days on end.

Sometimes magicians make the cards reappear in pieces from the insides of a fruit, the mouth of a spectator or at a random place in the studio, like the purse of a lady sitting in the back row.

Nowadays, card tricks have become so sophisticated that it would not be right to stage a mediocre performance such as having the individual pick out one card and then making the same card reappear from the deck.  You need to do something to step up your game if you want to impress your audience. You pick a card any card and it has begun.

Good magicians are those who rack their brains in order to come up with unique ways of producing the card that would leave the spectators baffled and surprised, but in a pleasant manner of course!

Let us take the example of David Frederick, who is popularly known as Dai Vernon. He gained the reputation of being a great card magician, someone who fooled Houdini because he performed a particular card trick called the “ambitious card trick” eight times in front of Houdini and yet the great Houdini could not figure out how it was done.

Likewise, aspiring magicians should draw inspiration from Dai Vernon and perform card tricks in such a way that the spectators are not even remotely close to guessing the secret of how it was done.

An ordinary pack of playing cards will not be so ordinary anymore in the hands of an expert card trick magician.

Card tricks have a universal appeal and have a magical effect on people, and in fact when in doubt one should always pull out card tricks and perform them in front of the audience, especially when the trick is a good one.

Unlike other complex magic acts, card tricks do not call for massive items, but simply a pack of cards that can fit easily in the pocket and is extremely portable.

Pick a card any card!

As an amateur magician you simply cannot ignore card tricks or avoid performing this kind of magic because it is an essential part of the repertoire of every magician.

You need to develop sleight of hand techniques in order to make your card trick look clean and crisp.

If you are not very good at card tricks then you should take baby steps first and then delve into more advanced tricks and practice them.

Some of the basic card tricks are so simple that almost everyone can perform them and be a magician.

As amateur magicians using basic card tricks, magicians should make them their own by adding their own personal twists and zing to them.  This not only makes the otherwise boring and basic card trick interesting but it can also baffle the spectator as if it is a new trick.

Once you have mastered the basic card tricks it would be time to move on to advanced card tricks that require you to have more serious skills.  These could take months or years of practice depending on how quickly you pick up the skills required.

In this way you can be sure that the audience would not be able to debunk your magic tricks and immense popularity and recognition would be yours!

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