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Argentinean Miracle Routine
by Daniel de Urquiza

The routine you are about to learn is an absolute audience killer.

You will certainly recognize three major influences on the plot: Three card monte, Jumping Gemini, from Darwin Ortiz, and Everywhere and Nowhere, of Hofzinser.

But, if you know those effects, also you will agree that the handling, methods, and the plot are completely new.

So, enjoy.

Effect: The magician shows three cards. The only one shown by its face is the Ace of Spades. The Ace of Spades is placed at different positions and it always manages to be where it is not supposed to be. The magician apparently explains this mystery by showing that the three cards are all Aces of Spades. Immediately, he shows that the three cards are Kings. Then, he remembers that there are four kings, not three, in the deck. So he shows that he has the four kings. Where is the Ace of Spades? In the magicians pocket. Performer ends up with the Ace of Spades and the four kings on the table, and there are no duplicates at all. The Ace of Spades can be signed.

a) Method: The Barebones.

FIRST PART: MONTE

1) Start by having on top of the deck the 3 kings, the Ace, 1 king, rest of the deck.

Spread 3 cards, face down. While showing them, take a one handed break under the top card. Say: "Now, an experiment with 3 cards. 1, 2, 3. The only card in which we are interested right now is this, the Ace of Spades." When you are saying this, square the three cards counted over the deck, add the Ace of Spades, and turn face up the four cards, outjogged a little.

2) Take the four cards, turn them face down. Very obviously take the Ace, show it, and put it 2nd from the top. Say "I take the Ace of Spades, and I place it in the middle. But it goes to the top." Of course, double turnover the top two cards.

3) Turn the double face down again, and place the top card, apparently the Ace, to the bottom. Say: "Now I place it at the bottom. But it goes again to the top." Show it in a similar way to the first card.

4) Turn the Ace face down and again put it 2nd from the top. Say: "So I put it in the middle, and you can see that it is in the middle", and simply lift the top card, face down, and use it to turnover the middle card, while maintaining a double as one as bottom card. Turn over the Ace again, but with a little injog, and put the top card back above the Ace. When squaring, take your break, and show that it is again at the top.

5) Go on saying "And I put it to the bottom, which is much more difficult because is below all the other cards, but it goes again to the top." Of course, you have put an indifferent card at the bottom, and showed the Ace on top.

SECOND PART: TRANSFORMATIONS.

6) Say "When I do this, people think that I have some extra cards, but no; only three." Show four as three, by reverse counting and counting the last two as one. The Ace is on the bottom.

7) "Other people think I have all Aces. Hmm. That could be..." Do a Flushtration or Optical Count, showing all Aces, and counting, of course, the last two as one.

8) Say: "But they are wrong, because, I don't have three Aces. I have...three kings." Turn the packet face up, showing three kings, hiding the Ace behind the middle king. If you are familiar with the Ascanio Spread, you shouldn't have any problems with this. Pause.

THIRD PART: THE FINALE.

9) Then, acting as if just remembering something: "But there are four kings in the deck, not three. So I blow...and I have 1, 2, 3, 4 Kings." Of course, you were set to do an Elmsley Count. The Ace is now at the bottom. Turn face down the packet, and at the same time palm the Ace.

10) Place the packet with three Kings on top of the deck, while saying: "I know you are wondering if those are the Kings, where is the Ace of Spades? Well, it was never with the Kings, it is where it had been all the time, at my pocket." Thrust your hand inside your pocket, take out the Ace of Spades, and throw it on the table, away from you.

11) Take the deck, deal quickly the four Kings (remember you have left on top of the deck the fourth King) on the table, face up, behind the Ace, and ribbon spread, also face up, the deck. Finish by saying, matching your actions to your words: "The Ace, The Kings, and you can see that there are no other Ace of Spades or Kings in the deck."

b) The sleights I use.

I think I must explain carefully the particular choice of two sleights: Vernon's top palm, used when the Aces of spades travels to the pocket, and my own "Argentinean Double Lift", used when doing the "Monte" phase.

1) To understand the foundations of the Argentinean Double Lift, first you will need to learn another sleight, the "Argentinean False Display".

This later move shows three cards as two. To do it, have the three cards face up, squared, in a somewhat modified dealer's grip. The cards are held on the tip of the extended fingers, clipped between the thumb and those fingers. The other hand takes hold of the three cards in Biddle grip. By the mere adherence of the face card to the to the tip of the thumb, you will be able to withdraw the two bottom cards as one with the hand in the modified biddle grip. It's kinda the opposite to the last action of the Gemini Count. As you take the double, the hand changes the biddle position a little bit, like this: the cards should be held by the middle finger on the outer short edge of the cards, and the thumb at the inner/lower short end. Notice that the index finger is free. Let it lay semiextended touching the outer long side of the cards.

Well, there is when you get to do the "false display".

Right now, you should have in one hand a face up card, held in a modified dealer's grip. In your other hand, you are holding two cards as one, face up. Remember the index finger position, it's fundamental. So, curl the index finger, "closing" it. This will cause the double to pivot. At the same time, also curl the index finger beneath the card held at the modified dealer's grip, and stretch it, freeing it from the thumb, so the cards get pinched between the middle and the index finger.

You must coordinate this actions with the lifting of both hands to the spectators eye level.

What the spectators see are two cards pivoting and showing the face at the same time.

I know I'm not supposed to say this, but this move is great: it has a gazillion applications (from sandwich type of effects to cards across, cannibal cards, etc), it has "built-in" misdirection (the showing of two cards at the same time), and it's at the same time "flourishy", but quite natural.

Ok. You've learned the "Argentinean False Display". Now you are set to learn the "Argentinean Double Lift". Actually, the sleight is used to do a double lift from a small packet of cards, modifying a little the "Argentinean False Display".

In the routine, you are always showing four cards as three. Also, you are performing doubles all the time. To do it, hold the four cards squared in biddle grip. Do a "half Ascanios Spread", i.e., the other hand comes from beneath, the fingers extends the bottom card to one side, then the second from the bottom also is extended to the side.

You end up with something like a "ladder" of cards, holding a double at the top. Let the two sidejogged cards rest on the tip of the extended fingers of the lower hand, and modify your biddle grip to do the false display move. Turn over the double, show it, and turn it again face down.

I've developed this sleight because I think that in the context of the monte phase I needed a very clean double, repeatable, and similar in aesthetics with other movements involved in the routine.

2) About the Vernon Palm: I used to do the Ace to pocket travel this palming, because is the more easy to do with a small packet of cards. Also is clean, fast, and undetectable. The main reason is that this palm gets the top card to palming as soon as the hand touches the cards. You see, other palms need what I call "two times": a sort of get ready, and then the palming. Vernon's top card palming doesn't; it has only one time, one move. Also, this palming fits inside the plot perfectly, as a squaring action before putting the kings on top of the deck of cards.

c) The Script

"I'm going to do a little trick with three cards. One, two, three cards. But the only card you have to care about its this card, the Ace of Spade. See, I put this card in the middle...But now is on the top. I put it on the bottom, but again is on the top. And I put it again in the middle, AND YOU CAN SEE IT IN THE MIDDLE. But again is on the top. And I put it in the bottom, AND THIS IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT, BECAUSE IT'S ON THE BOTTOM, AND IT HAS TWO CARDS ON TOP, but again is on the top. So I know what you are thinking: that I have more than three cards. But see, you are wrong, I have only one, two, three cards. Or you can think that all the three cards are aces: one, two, three aces. In that way, you think, it's easy: I can show that I put it in the middle, AN SHOW THAT IT'S IN THE MIDDLE, because the middle card is an ace, and the TOP card is an ace, because all are aces. And I can put the ace to the bottom, and show that it's on top again, because all cards are aces. So, it doesn't matter if I put it in the middle, because all are aces. Well, you are wrong, because the THREE CARDS ARE KINGS. There are no aces. Hey, I'm remembering that there are FOUR kings at the deck, so, I blow, and we have one, two, three, four kings. And if these are the kings, you may rightly ask yourself were the ace is gone...its in my pocket. So, here you have, the ace, the four kings, and there are no other aces of spades or kings in the deck."

You must match your words, of course, with the actions described at the method explanation.

As you see, I like to emphasize the effect rather than telling some kind of story or tale. The pace must be quick, but not confusing. There should be moments when the rhythm is reduced, to let the different climaxes sink. Those moments are when finishing the first part of the monte, when showing all aces, when showing three kings, when showing four, after the travel of the ace, and when finishing.

Notes: so, if you think a little bit about this routine, you'll see that, like a Borges story (or maybe a Chandler's, in the English language) it is the finish that gives the entire routine its sense. The idea is: I have had the Ace of Spades all the time in my pocket. So you could never have seen it. There is were the impossibility of this routine dwells.

The monte part should be done at an increasing pace, and a pause must be made when the three cards turn to Kings.

Daniel de Urquiza