4 – 3 – 2 – 1
by Werner Miller

Werner Miller is a retired teacher of mathematics, whose hobbies are recreational mathematics and magic. A magical inventor and writer, Werner has produced a prolific volume of work, mostly what he calls “semi-automatic” card tricks based on mathematical principles. He is the author of "Fast von selbst", "Alles Miller oder was", "Ratatouille", more than 300 trick contributions to various magazines and web sites and more than 30 related computer programs. In addition, Werner is also a staff member of the German magazine "Magische Welt", a columnist for the British magazine "The Magician", and regular contributor here at Visions. Werner's first English-language book, Ear-Marked, is available here.

Get the four kings and the four aces (or any other two sets of four of a kind). Place one set on top of the other. The order of the suits does not matter.

Fan the cards face up, square them, turn them face down and false cut them.

Milk off pairs of cards, placing them side by side making a row of four pairs. (The four top cards are e.g. kings, the four bottom cards are aces.)

Ask a spectator to take off the top card of any pair and keep it, unseen.

Assemble the remaining cards by dropping the single card on top of any pair, these three cards on top of any other pair, and this combined packet on top of the last pair.

Do a Monge (Over/Under) Shuffle.

Milk off three pairs of cards placing them side by side before the spectator. The remaining single card is yours. Place it still face down to your side of the table.
Again, the spectator has the free choice to take away and keep the top card of any pair.

The remaining cards are assembled as described, starting with the single card.
Do another Monge Shuffle.

Milk off two pairs of cards placing them side by side before the spectator. Again, the remaining single card is yours.

The spectator selects the top card of either pair for himself, you assemble the remaining cards by dropping the single card on top of the last intact pair.

For the last time, do a Monge Shuffle.

Milk off a pair of cards, and keep the remaining single card for yourself.

Ask the spectator to take the top card of the pair as his “fourth choice”, the card left is going to complete your quartet.

Turning all the cards face up brings a surprise: The spectator has selected four kings, and you got the four aces!

Note. If you want to know more about the Monge Shuffle you may follow this link: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MongesShuffle.html

Werner Miller