I came up with this driving in a truck one night. I would be surprised if it wasn't invented previously, but I've not heard of where yet, and it sure fools the magicians (and laymen too)!

I wanted a card effect that was clean and free of "moves." I think the lack of moves is why this works so well on our peers!

A deck of cards is shuffled, and set on the table. The magician turns his back, then tells the spectator to cut the deck at any position high or low and make two piles. The magician keeps his back turned at all times.

The spectator is then told to remove the card he has cut to randomly. Look at it, then hide it on his person out of sight.

Finally, the spectator is asked to complete the cut and square up the deck.

At this point the magician turns around and places the squared up deck back in the card box. With the usual performance gyrations, he names the spectator's card!

Begin by arranging the deck in order. You can use a straight forward ordering of the deck, but I prefer to use Si Stebbins because the card faces can be shown and do not appear in any order.

In performance, just make a couple of "false shuffles" to convince everyone the cards are randomized. Remember that you can cut the cards all you want and you won't change the order. Next, turn your back, have the cards cut, a card removed, and the cut completed as in the above.

It now seems perfectly natural to put the remaining cards away, and while you do, you simply look at the bottom card. The bottom card will be the card that followed the card that is hidden on the spectator. Since the cards are in order, just think back one!

This effect is particularly good for magicians because they can follow instructions. The one danger in this effect is that when your back is turned a "wise guy" can do something with the cards and trip you up. Most of the time this is rare, and this effect really gets 'em because not only did you never touch a card, but your back was turned the whole time!

For those who are not familiar with Si Stebbins method of arranging cards, it's easy. Each card in sequence has a value of three more than the preceding card. For example, if your first card is a 6, your next card is a 9. Each card in order has a different suit. The order of suits is clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds. The order is remembered by the mnemonic CHaSeD.

Example:

3-C, 6-H, 9-S, Q-D, 2-C, 5-H, 8-S, J-D, A-C, etc.

I also have mnemonics for remembering the specific cards without having to mentally think through the system. I'll email them to anyone who wants them.