Mat Franco

Storytelling Card Trick

Revealed

Mat Franco performed this amazing card trick on his fist audition for America's Got Talent.

This is a close up magic trick. Mat steps to the judges' table with a deck of cards and shuffles it. He then starts pulling cards out of the deck while he tells a story, combined with some jokes. Since the deck is shuffled, he should just be drawing out random cards, right?

But that’s not what happens. Surprisingly, all the cards he throws on the table correspond to something in his story. For example, when he says »Ninth season of America's Got Talent«, the card is a 9. This is especially impressive since he is constantly shuffling the deck of cards for the whole duration of the trick. Amazing!

How does he do it? See the video of the performance and then read the explanation below.

 

Explanation:

Here is an explanation of this card trick, written by our reader Jeffery Winkler:

»Here he is doing what is known as the "false shuffle". It is looks like he is shuffling the cards but not really. A magician can put a "step" on the card, where it's 1/8 inch higher or lower than the other card, and then he can move the card to the top or bottom or anywhere he wants. Throughout this trick, Matt Franco knows exactly where every card is at any given time, and has complete control over where every card is at any given time. Notice that when he "shuffles" the cards, he holds them so the two half stacks are never mixed, or even come in physical contact. He keeps about an inch of space between the top and bottom stack as he moves them around.

Often magicians doing a similar trick allow an audience member shuffle the deck to their heart's content before beginning the trick. In that case, they simply switch that shuffled deck with the "real" deck, and then proceed with the trick.

It takes enormous skill to manipulate the positions of the various cards as effortlessly as Matt Franco did in that video. I should also say it took genuine writing and acting ability for him to write, memorize, and deliver that monologue.«