If you love to do up close magic, but can't be bothered with learning all kinds of technical sleight of hand maneuvers, then you've come to the right place. This a completely mathematically based self working trick, which means anybody can do it. But since it seems to be mysterious, you can play it off like you've got powerful psychic abilities, and impress loads of people with this simple trick. The more you talk this trick up, the better.

Here's how the ploy seems to your soon so be mesmerized audience. You tell them that you have recently learned some powerful skills of psychic projection. You can put thoughts secretly in their mind. Of course, they don't trust you, and they ask for a exhibition, to which you happily oblige.

You pull out a usual deck of cards, and open up the cards so that only you can see the cards. You spend a extensive amount of psychic force looking at the cards, and looking at your acquaintance. Then you put the cards back into a standard stack, and tell the person to pick any two cards, without naming the suit. Like ace, and queen, or ten and three, for example.

Once they decide their two cards, you search through the deck, and show them that the two cards they chose are right next to each other. They will be surprised, and likely ask you to do this trick again. You go through the motions of looking at the cards, and projecting the numbers into their heads. Once again they choose two cards, and once again you show them their two cards are right next to each other in the deck.

The rationale this always works is due to pure mathematical probability. Since they aren't naming the suit of the card, and only the number, there is about a ninety percent possibility that any two cards they pick will be next to each other, since when they choose two cards, their actually choosing eight (two cards of four suits each). And just sheer mathematics, the chances of any two of any eight cards in a deck being next to each other is about ninety percent.

Of course, the more you chatter this trick up, the better. The more you make believe to project thoughts into their mind, and go through the motions of doing anguished psychic projection the better. If you want you can make a kindly wager with them that you can accurately "project" the cards into to their head before the trick. Have fun with this.