Spex Mix: The Wash

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You might ask why I have a whole series of posts about ways to have a spectator mix a deck and still retain a partial stock.

The reason is this: I like techniques that move the needle.

And a spectator mix technique is one that does.

You may spend 100s of hours mastering a false shuffle. But the most perfect false shuffle is not enough to undermine people’s knowledge of false shuffles. I’ve had spectators claim a 100% real shuffle must have been a false shuffle. Given that, I don’t really see any reason to work on a false shuffle other than to impress other magicians. And what rational human wants to do that? Oh, gee… Mark Calabrese is impressed by me? Now my life is complete.

Here’s a technique I use when I need to protect a larger group of cards, up to a full suit. It happens seated at a table.

The stack starts on the bottom of the deck. I remove the deck from the case. Spread it and get a right thumb break over my stack.

Now two things happen at once:

  1. My left arm swipes across the table like I’m brushing aside any dust or debris.

  2. My right hand goes to my lap and drops off the stack and immediately comes up and starts dribbling the cards all over the table.

Lay people cannot tell that a quarter of the cards are missing.

Have them wash the cards around the table. When they’re satisfied they’re well mixed, gather up the cards toward yourself into a loose pile. Reach into your lap with your left hand to pick up the stack and slide the loose pile off the table on top of the stack. Square everything and you’re good to go.

If you want the stack to end up on top of the deck, then just do this whole process face up.

You can follow it up with the Jerx-Ose False(ish) Cut, retaining the stack on the top or bottom depending.

There’s nothing revolutionary here. It’s a slight variation on a process I’ve posted in the past, and I’m not even suggesting that was original. But I wanted to include it in the Spex Mix series as it’s something I use quite frequently. It might seem unsophisticated compared to some of the fantastic false shuffles that exist in magic. But it has the important distinction that it can’t be dismissed as a false shuffle.