A magic card trick usually relies on either placing a certain card exactly in the deck where you want it, or forcing the audience member to choose the card you want them to choose or both. There are several ways to place a card in a particular position in a deck of cards.

There are some techniques which must be mastered by the aspiring magician in some of the in tricks. For example, the movement called the "double lift" is a common method for choosing just the right prearranged card. A double lift is picking up two cards as if they were one. The audience must not realize you're holding two cards or the illusion will be spoiled. A second technique which must be mastered for many of the card tricks to be successful is the "pinky break." This is done by holding the deck of cards in such a way that they can be slightly separated with the pad of the little finger. In either case, the actions must appear totally natural. You will need much practice in order to do either the double lift or pinky break correctly.

Practicing in front of a mirror gives you the same view your audience will see when you are performing the trick for them.

Another thing which will need to be perfected is your flow of conversation. You must sound natural, sound as if you are fully explaining what you will do and make it believable. This is part of the fun of a successful illusion.

Here's a magic card trick sometimes called a magic elevator, or a jumping card trick. The audience will see you show them an ace of spades from the top of the deck. It is placed in the center of the deck and when the deck is tapped, or a hand waved over the deck, the ace of spades then "jumps" back to the top of the deck.

This trick is quite easy once you master the two techniques above. First, secretly place any card in the deck at the top, with the ace of spades in the second position. When you show the audience the ace of spades you will do a double lift using the pinky break so that it appears the ace of spades is the top card.

In actuality, it is the second card. You then replace both cards on the top of the deck, face down. At this time, tell the audience that you are putting the ace of spades into the middle of the deck. They will see you take the top face down card from the stack and place it in the middle of the stack of cards. With appropriate patter and waving the magic wand or saying the magic words, you then turn over the top card-the ace of spades, which has 'magically' taken the elevator up through the deck of cards to be back in top position.

The audience will beg for an explanation of how you did that, but you should not ever reveal this secret. The audience really doesn't want to know how-they just want to be entertained.

This is one of the easier card tricks, but don't let its simplicity fool you. It still needs practice in order to make your moves look smooth and natural.