talkmagic.co.uk

Ok, ok...I'm not sure what the singular for "et al" is or if that itself applies to the singular or if one even exists but it sounds fancy and got your attention so there we are...
To the point mobile. Lets go...
Basically I started to wonder the other day about the facination people seem to have for the ace of spades. I did a quick search here and couldn't find anything so thought I'd post and ask. I just find it interesting that it's always the single most fancy card in a deck and (possibly therefore) the most popular card for people to think of... it even has a song written about it! I think it's quite possibly a gambling thing but could anyone verify that or say what they think the reason might be (or even is)?
Then theres the other card that's been on my mind. Why's the king of hearts the only chappy to be stabbing himself in the head!?
This is maybe all common knowledge... and if so, pah to all you commoners but seriously, if you know anything and could shed some light on it, that would be great!

Thanks for reading!

The only reason i can think of is that when you open a new deck it is there at the front, almost the leader of the pack. Also, the Ace of Spade symbol is sometimes printed on the box (for example Bicycle stock) which in my opinion is "subliminally advertising" the ace of spades.

Sometimes this is an advantage, but I personally hate people choosing the Ace of spades when im doing the ID, it seems to be a chiche.

Going completely off topic now, does anyone find that during the ID, most people will choose a court card?

Mark

isnt it the king of hearts that stabs himself in the head?

anyways i just noticed that your a fifer norman.. where abouts in the kingdom are you from?(is an ex fifer meself)..hehe

I've noticed that a few of the pro magicians that I've seen using the ID tend to tell the lay person NOT to select the AOS when selecting their card.

Dat,

Im resorting to that now, but, i dont like the idea of restricting the speccys choice, even if it is by 1 card. I suppose i could just explain that the AOS is too much of a cliche.

All you have to say, when you're doing an ID trick is something like:

'OK, I want you to pick a card, but don't make it too abvious, like the AOS or a picture card. Try and catch me out... pick something I wouldn't expect...'

You're offering them a challenge and hopefully you'll mess up when they choose a spot card. Of course, you have an ID, so you're not going to get caught out that easily.

I always say 'picture cards' as well, as when I say 'court cards', some people aren't sure what they are.

Cheers,

If people insist on picking tha AOS then why not use this to your advantage. All you need is a spare AOS in your pocket with "I knew you would pick this card" written in marker on the back. You could even put it in a sealed envelope for added effect.
Start by asking a spec to name any card. If they say the AOS you have a miracle prediction then you can move to another spec and ask them to name any card, it will be a different one, then comes the ID.
If the first spec doesn't name the AOS just do the ID from the start.

I see what you're getting at Mark but I'm not sure that it matters too much with this deck.

Perhaps it depends on the mood that you're trying to create as I saw a mentalism type reveal with an ID and the magician said something along the lines of not picking the AOS as it was a dark card - it sort of fitted in and sounded very reasonable. The spec was just as amazed at the reveal and there must be dozens of similar quips to excuse the AOD without causing any suspicion.

I liked Hodkinson's idea! Thanks!

Very good point... I guess it depends on the mood you create.

I'm going to get another AOS and stick in my pocket like Hodgkinson suggested!

My ID is the Black Tiger one, so maybe I should lean towards creating a 'mystical' mood with it, rather than just revealing the card. The Black Deck does lend itself quite well towards mystic-esque tricks, so I'll look into that.

What I sometimes do is get someone to pick a card from a regular deck, and reveal it in my 'special' deck. That usually goes down quite well.

Personally, I've always liked the Blaine presentation of the spec turning their selected card over and over in their mind, building up to the reveal to find that their card has urned over in the deck.

Simple and effective and this is one of the presentations that I use for table hopping

You're quite right mog... I meant to write king of hearts. Thanks for pointing it out! I've edited it now.
So I take it noone knows or cares by the looks of it apart from the fact that the ace causes a "problem" which is easily overcome in the ID!?

when you open a new deck it is there at the front, almost the leader of the pack. Also, the Ace of Spade symbol is sometimes printed on the box (for example Bicycle stock) which in my opinion is "subliminally advertising" the ace of spades.

I always get the impression the ace is "advertised" because it's the most interesting card to look at. I just wonder why the ace of spades was chosen to be the most interesting. The leader of the pack idea makes sense though.

Thanks for the replies anyhoo.

I discovered wikipedia again just a minute ago and it's helped to throw out a few answers for anyone whos interested!
The ace of spades is fancy due to stamp duties introduced in the 17th century which were extended to cover playing cards among other things such as newspapers. To show duty had been paid they would stamp a card and the card chosen was usually the ace of spades. Eventually they just started printing special ace of spades cards to show duty had been paid on the cards and the card design has stuck ever since. The taxation stopped in 1960.

As for the king of hearts... well theres not a whole lot. He gets called the suicide king for obvious reasons but some people argue that he's not really killing himself, just that he's cutting his hair or holding a sword behind his head. There are other court cards which are odd too so maybe the king of hearts isn't so interesting afterall (KoD has an axe, 2 jacks aren't full face).

Also of interest... "high aces" are a result of the french revolution showing the superiority of the people over the monarchy and the term "jack" was at one time considered vulgar.

I've been drawn into the history of cards now and think I'm going to look into it a bit more and see if I can work parts of it into a routine of sorts.

Hope this helps any equally interested folks.

I remember seeing a number of threads about three months ago concerning the history of playing cards and interesting/unusual facts about them. I can't remember which forum they were on though If I trace them, I'll PM you.

I think this is down to old gambling games where suits were nominated ranks. In bridge the hearts are best i think (THOUGH I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO PLAY IT)

The king of hearts must have an itch.

ans another bit of useless info is the 4 of clubs is known as the Devils bed posts for some reason.

Thanks juan! That would be great if you happen to find out what forum they were on!

And thanks for the reply sam but I found out some info from Wikipedia which kind of explains it a bit.

I'm still digging around for info though so if you happen across anything interesting on your internet adventures then I'd be really greatful if you could post it here.

Thanks again y'all.