Card trick...how did he do it? he claims i'm psychic?? please help magic geniuses!?

Question

ok, so my cuzin showed me this card trick...it's amazing and i must know how he did it!!! this is what happened.
He spread out the cards in front of me, and he said "pick the ace of spades" or some other card...(every time we did it (i demended he do it over and over again) he'd just name me a card that i'd have to pick)
so i'd pick a card, give it to him (not look at it) and then he'd tell me to pick another (specific) card. i gave it to him..he looks at, and then he picks a specific card. Then he said "do you remember what the cards were?" and i'd tell him, and he'd flip them over and i would get it right. we did this over and over and i kept gettign it right. now i know there is a trick behind this...and i'm desperate to know what it is!!!! please please please help if you can think of a conclusion?!?!?! thanks!

Answer 1

This really quite simple...what happens is he notes the position of one specific card, say the Ace of Spades. He asks you to pick the Ace of Spades, and probably you won't. But you don't know that, so you hand your card, say the Jack of Diamonds to him. He then asks you to pick the Jack of Diamonds, but you don't know that you can't since you can't see the first card you picked...

Then suppose your next card is the four of clubs. He says "I'll now pick the four of clubs" and picks the Ace of Spades. Rearranging the cards, you see all four cards to be exactly as you have picked them...

Answer 2

"so i'd pick a card, give it to him (not look at it) and then he'd tell me to pick another (specific) card."

Does this mean you didn't look at it, or he didn't?

"..he looks at, and then he picks a specific card."

Does this mean he picked up a card off the table?

Sounds like it's actually quite simple.
He looks at a card in a specific position - say, the top card - before spreading them out. Then he tells you to pick that particular card, whatever it was. In your example, the ace of spades may have been on top, so he'd tell you to pick the ace of spades.

When you pick a card and hand it to him without looking at it, he then tells you to pick the card you just handed him. You pick another card, and then he picks up the ace of spades from the table, using sleight of hand to get rid of the last card you gave him. This leaves the ace of spades and the first card you gave him - the card he asked for second - as the two cards he's holding.

That is, if I understand your explanation correctly.

Answer 3

I certainly don't hate people who claim that, but honestly I would roll my eyes at someone who claimed to be a psychic. I just think such abilities are impossible, and because the psychics you usually hear about are either a bit wacky or they're scammers, they don't give psychics a very positive image. Also, it's probably not as politically-incorrect to scoff at the beliefs of a psychic than it would be for a more touchy subject like religion.

Answer 4

I am familiar with this but I don't think its fair to reveal anything -- all i can tell u is to watch closely the first card ...remember what it was said to be and where he places it...thats all I can tell you you should be able to figure it out from that but if I tell you anything more would give too much away and take the fun out of it. I love driving people nuts with card tricks myself :o)