Liam Montier - Henry Sugar.pdf

Henry Sugar

A self-working mental card routine by Liam Montier

Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Copyright November 2003 © The Underground Collective & Liam Montier All rights reserved.

http://www.underground-collective.com [email protected]

This manuscript and all contents therein are protected by international copyright laws, and may not be reproduced, republished, distributed, transmitted, displayed, broadcast or otherwise exploited in any manner without the express prior written permission of The Underground Collective and/or Liam Montier. All infringements of this notice will be investigated and where applicable, legal action will be taken.

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Introduction Inspired by “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”, a short story written by Roald Dahl, this effect is a three-phase, self-working mental card effect. Two ancient principles are combined to create a clean, strong routine that builds in impact to a logical finish, and a charming story (by Mr Dahl) compliments what is my favourite card effect to date. Thank you to Andi Gladwin (for researching the credits, and his always valued input) and to Jamie Badman, for proofreading, designing and formatting the booklet. I would like to think that you enjoy reading Henry Sugar, and perhaps even consider adding it to your repertoire. Sincerely, Liam Montier, November 2003.

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Effect and Presentation “Tell me, have you ever read “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”? It was written by Roald Dahl, and was written as a true account of a man who cheated casinos of millions of dollars that he donated to orphanages around the world.” “His rather unique power came from a chance location of a little exercise book that stated with enough practice in the mental aspects of Yoga, various powers could be achieved, including, amongst other things, seeing without your eyes.” “Studies and practice meant that eventually, Henry Sugar could know what playing cards where in an opponent’s hand, by mentally visualising it.” “The book describes the technique in a good amount of detail, and, having read it several times, I decided to give the technique a try.” “What I’m about to demonstrate is over seven months hard work, and while it’s certainly more modest than Henry’s attempts (I can only visualise the more colourful picture cards), I think you’ll find it interesting…”

A deck of cards is on the table. The magician cuts the deck and goes to shuffle the packets together, but on afterthought, allows the spectator to do it. He then explains that the spectator is to take cards one at a time and look at them. When the spectator has a court card, he is to concentrate fiercely on it, and not allow the magician to see it. The spectator does this, and the magician names the picture card that the spectator is thinking of! This is repeated two or three times! The spectator shuffles the deck again, but to no avail, as the magician again repeatedly names the court cards that the spectator stops on… Even with his back turned. Finally, proposing a finale, the spectator spreads through the remaining cards and thinks of any card, picture or spot. They visualise it, then reassemble the deck. Needless to say, the magician reads the spectator’s mind and reveals the thought of card. How? Turn over the page…

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Preparation Take a deck of cards and remove all of the court cards, arranging them in an order that you can remember. I use a circular stack the reads “Queen”, “Jack”, “King”, (think of ladies and children first) and the suits run in Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds order, otherwise known as “ChaSeD”. For the sack of completeness, the whole stack appears below. QC, JH, KS, QD, JC, KH, QS, JD, KC, QH, JS, KD.

Put this stack on top of the deck, and then a couple of indifferent cards on top of that, so the first card of the stack is two or three cards down. You are ready to go.

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Method Phase One Introduce the deck, and begin your opening remarks about Henry Sugar. Cut the deck into two equal piles, and go to riffle shuffle them together. Then apparently change your mind and instead, suggest that the spectator does it for you. By cutting the pack, and using the appropriate gestures, you can ensure that the spectator will use a riffle shuffle. If you want to make completely sure, patter can be made about the casinos, and how the cards are shuffled there. Then demonstrate the riffle shuffle and have the spectator carry it out. Demonstrate what the spectator is to do by taking the top card of the deck and looking at it, keeping the card facing you. “This is what I want you to do… take the top card, and look at it, like this. Don’t show me. If it’s a number card, put it on the table” Remember this card. You’ll use it as a key card later, but if you don’t remember it, don’t worry. Drop it face up onto the table as a demonstration. “However, if it’s a picture card, I want you to concentrate on it, picture it in your mind, and then look me in the eye”. Allow the spectator to do this, stopping on the first court card, which will be at least three cards from the top. When the spectator stops, you know what the court card will be – it’s the first one in your stack (In our case, the queen of clubs). However, don’t just blurt out the name of the card. Look into the spectators’ eyes, and reveal the card bit by bit: “It’s black, a club, I think it’s a club… Queen. The Queen of clubs!” As you do this revelation, be sure to glance at the back of the spectator’s card once or twice. We are going to lead them up the garden path a little, and imply (if only on a subconscious level) that the cards are either see-through or marked. Repeat the sequence with another card, this time glancing very briefly at the back of the card that the spectator has. Again, reveal it as before, as you know it’s the second card in your stack.

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

The third time, again look at the back very briefly, as if you are reading the marks. Don’t miss this out; it will make the next phase even more impressive because you are about to ruin any possible theories the spectator may have!

Phase Two In appearance, you are going to allow the spectator to shuffle the deck, before going on with your experiment. However… You need to ensure that the deck is cut in the right place, below the lowermost court card. Now, that’ll be about half way down the remainder of the deck. You can take a chance and allow the spectator to cut, but I prefer to do it myself. Cut the face down cards, splitting them into two piles, but be sure to pick up about two thirds of the packet (cutting more than half ensures that you won’t make a mistake) and place the cut off section down, allowing a spectator to shuffle the two packets together with another riffle shuffle. Now, continue as before, naming the court cards as the spectator comes to them. To fool them a little more this time, don’t look at the back of the first card they hold up; just name it by looking into their eyes. With the next one or two, have your back turned completely. This is where you will get strong reactions, as you have conditioned the spectators into thinking that perhaps the cards were marked or transparent in the previous phase. Once you have done that, we are ready for the finish.

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

The Final Phase Finally, offer to try something you’ve “never tried in public before” – the number card. Have the spectator spread through the remainder of the cards in hand and think of any card that he sees. Direct him to remove the card from the packet and concentrate hard on it. So, whilst your spectator is deciding on a card, ask yourself if you remember your key card. If you do, turn your head, and casually flip the packet on the table face down. If you don’t remember the key card, turn the packet face down, allowing the packet to spread slightly, so you can glimpse what becomes the top card of the packet. Direct the spectator to drop the selection on top of the tabled packet and the remainder of the cards on top of the selection, thus burying it into the centre of the deck. If you wish you can have the spectator cut the deck a few times. Time to recap to the spectator: “You’ve shuffled the deck, and thought of a card, is that right? anyone of these.”

It could be

Note the wording here; this is Juan Tamariz’ concept of ‘rewriting history’; you tell it almost how it was but leaving out a few crucial details! The spectator who tries to ‘backtrack’ will often find that this ‘summary’ obstructs his clear reconstruction of what really happened! Suiting actions to words, pick up the face down deck and casually spread through them face up, quickly spotting your key card, and remembering the card BELOW it – this is the spectators selection. It is possible to do this spread very quickly, as you will know roughly where the selection went back, so you can just spread that section wide and catch a quick glimpse. Once you have the name of the card, leave the deck on the table, and concentrate on presenting the big finish. Name the card, but fake some difficulty in doing so: “It’s red… that much I can tell… I can’t quite see if it’s a heart or a diamond… Don’t tell me, no clues…” And so on. When you are ready, reveal the card, and leave the deck to be examined. They will want to check the cards afterwards!

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Final Phase: The Alternate Handling The effect ‘as written’ is how Liam performs the effect and it’s a stunner! However, you may also wish to consider this slightly different approach to the final phase. This handling is for those people who wish to perform Phase Three without having to look through the cards and who are adept at card handling. It’s important that you can handle a deck of cards competently for this variation to work since any hesitation will raise suspicion in the mind of the spectator. Here’s how it workds: First, place a breather-crimp in the top two cards of the deck. When you cut the cards, in phase one, perform a slip-cut – this places a breather on top of both halves. Now, after the deck is re-assembled in Phase Three, you will find that if you pick up the deck and hold it face up in biddle-grip in your right hand and you then place it into your left hand into dealers grip, you can drop the cards that lie beneath the lowermost breather slightly – in order to take a pinky-break between the two packets. There are various ways from this position to then glimpse the card above the break (which will be the chosen card). Here is one way: Turn the cards face down, retaining the break. Reach forward with your hands, keeping the deck in your left hand and touch the spectator’s temples with the back of each thumb as you seemingly try to pick up on the spectator’s thoughts. You should now see that the deck has slightly separated at the break and… staring you in the face is their selection! This is a beautifully ‘cheeky’ moment; you glimpse the card in such a crafty manner and the spectator’s head obscures your peek from anyone else except for perhaps someone looking directly over your left shoulder – it’s virtually invisible!

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Henry Sugar

Liam Montier

Final Thoughts & Credits The principle of retaining the stack within a shuffled deck has a cloudy history. The earliest location we have managed to track down is in Juan Tamariz's "Total Coincidence" from his book Sonata. This may not be the first known method and although Tamariz does not give a credit, he does mention that part of the shuffle is based on an old Theo Anneman idea. And of course, the key card principle is probably as old as cards themselves. Here though, its use is cleverly disguised, and you’ll fool even magicians, who really should know better. But it’s the amalgamation of all of these principles and the presentation itself that makes this effect so strong; it’s hard to imagine that what you are doing is possible, given that the spectator repeatedly shuffles the deck and supposedly pulls random cards out for you to ‘read’! On a minor presentational point, originally, I used to remove the card that they were thinking of, using the key card method, but since I’ve changed to naming it, the reaction has been much stronger. My theory is that the ending, when performed that way, is perceived as “I picked a card and he found it” as opposed to “He read my mind!” One final idea is to have the bottom card of the stack (King of Diamonds) crimped. When you cut the deck in phase 2 for the spectators shuffle, you can cut straight to the crimp, as opposed to estimating where to cut the deck. Well we’re at the end of the manuscript! I hope you’ve enjoyed the effect, perhaps enough to get down to a library and read Roald Dahl’s original book! Until next time… Liam Montier [email protected]

http://www.underground-collective.com

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