Aces and Kings - Poker Card Trick

This is a fairly easy trick to perform making use of a partially stacked deck of cardsto produce a couple of great poker hands of Four of a Kind.

The Effect

After you have made a show of shuffling the cards, you demonstrate to your audience and particularly to a spectator how you want them to deal the cards face down into four piles. When this is done, the spectator finds an ace on top of each pile and when you the performer turn each pile over, a King is revealed at the bottom of each pile!

Preparation

You will need to be able to perform the false overhand shuffle so make sure you can do this. Look to the column on the right to find instructions. Also before your performance, place the four aces on top of the deck followed by the four Kings. The rest of the cards can be in any order you like.

Performance

First of all, use a false overhand shuffle to give the appearance that you are mixing up all of the cards. Ask a spectator to help you and put the deck down in front of them, asking them to cut a small number of cards from the top of the deck which you then take from them telling them that you want them to deal for piles onto the table.You then demonstrate this by dealing the four top cards which are in fact the aces face down on to the table in four piles. Next you place the remainder of the small pile back on top of the deck and casually scoop up the four aces placing them on the bottom. This last move must be made to look natural as if you're only demonstrating what they have to do.

Now you get the spectator to deal four piles and when they have finished, ask them out of interest, which is their favourite ace. Whatever their response, ask them to turn over the top card of one of the piles. If they happened to hit their favourite ace first time then you will truly have an astonished spectator. However get them to turn over the top card of all the piles so that all the four aces are revealed.

For the real punchline of this trick, tell them that you yourself actually prefer the Kings and turnover each pile revealing the four Kings at the bottom of the four piles.

Poker Card Tricks With Aces

Retaining Top Cards

Here is how you can perform a false shuffle to keep a bunch of cards in place on the top of the deck.

Turn the deck face upwards in the left-hand and shuffle in the normal way except that with your right hand you simply take a block of cards from the top half of the pack (instead of the bottom which is the norm) and shuffle them on top of the pre-arranged cards.

This will keep the prearranged cards upside-down on top of the deck, (underneath) safely gripped in the left hand whilst the right-hand shuffles the block of cards face up onto them (see photo above).