A Cut Above the Rest
This is a sleight of hand trick which requires some practice. Well worth it for the effect.
Sleight of hand required: Glimpsing the top card of the pack and also flipping the pack.
Preparation required: You'll require a thick, large handkerchief that can't be seen through and an ordinary deck of cards.
The trick:
Take the deck of cards and shuffle it. Be sure to glimpse the top card whilst you do this.
In clear view of the audie
ce place the deck face down in the palm of your left hand, then hold the handkerchief in your right hand and in a sweeping motion cover the deck with it. As you do this, and being careful not to be seen by your audience, flip the pack over so that it lies face up beneath the handkerchief in the middle of your palm.
Get a spectator to cut the deck under the handkerchief without looking, and with the handkerchief still in place, you put the top pile they have removed back into your hand nearer to your wrist than the rest of the deck. As you are doing this, flip the remaining pile so that it's face down - be sure to be able to do this without being seen.
Ask the spectator to then reach under the handkerchief and remove the face down pile - this was originally on the bottom. However, you must be sure that no-one sees the other pile which is still face up.
Get the spectator to look at the card that they cut to - the top card of the face-down pile which is in fact the card you glimpsed on top of the deck at the start of the trick. Whilst they're doing that, flip the pile you're still holding so that it's now face down, remove it from under the handkerchief and hand it to the spectator. The spectator now shuffles the deck and returns it to you. You now reveal the selected card in the manner of your choice.