The "ELM" Card Change

For a quick close up and impromptu trick this one from E. Leslie May is hard to beat. It is far from being complicated and that alone helps make it great in the eyes of the audience. It can be done any time with any deck.

Effect
The spectator initials the face of a card he selects and replaces it in the pack. The performer now selects a card, initials it also and shows it to all. This he places in his own pocket and then gives the deck to the spectator to hold. This person now attempts to say where he thinks the two initialed cards are, but he is wrong, for when he ribbon spreads the deck on the table he finds the magician’s card reversed in the center of the spread. Reaching into the performer’s pocket the spectator finds his own initialed card!

Routine
Have someone shuffle the deck and remove a card. The performer takes back the deck as the spectator initials his selection. Holding the deck in his left hand, the performer takes the selected card in his right hand as he explains that to really put the card in to the deck at random he will do so with the cards behind his back. Both hands go behind his back for a moment and then the left hand brings the deck forward and one card is seen to be protruding about an inch near the center of the pack. This card is now pushed into the deck and lost. Actually, however, the chosen card is on the top of the deck, for when the deck was behind his back the performer drops the chosen card on TOP of the deck and, inserting his fingers in the center of the deck, pulled out another card part way.

Remarking that he will now take a card, the performer turns over the top card of the deck – really double lifting the two top cards. He initials the face up card, letting everyone see it. Now, while this card is still face up on the deck in his left hand, the right hand shows the right trouser pocket to be empty. The two face up cards, as one, are now turned face down on top of the deck. Then the left thumb pushes the top card off the deck about an inch, and the right hand as openly puts it in the right trouser pocket. Now under cover of cutting the deck, the top (performer’s) card is reversed and the cut completed. The deck is at once handed to a spectator to hold.

Questioned as to the location of the cards the spectators will always be wrong. He is told to ribbon spread the deck across the table and there, staring up at him, is the reversed card initialed by the performer. As a finale he reaches into the performer’s pocket and finds his own card.

Note: The reversal of your card in the above effect is easily accomplished using the Braue Reversal. In case you're not familiar with the move, here it is in a nutshell. With the deck held in the left hand dealer's grip, get a break under the top (your signed) card. The right hand comes over the top and lifts up the entire deck - the right thumb taking over the break under the top card. The right hand now releases the bottom half of the deck into the waiting left fingers. The left hand now takes its half, turns it face up and places it on top of the cards in the right hand. The right thumb maintains its break during this process. The right hand immediately releases the other half of the deck "below" the break, again into the waiting left hand. The right hand at the point is holding half the deck face up with a lone face down card (your signed selection) underneath. The left fingers now turn its half face up and add it this time to the bottom of the deck. The full face-up deck is returned to the left hand dealer's grip and then, turned face down. You can now ribbon spread or fan the cards to show the signed selection face up in the middle of the face down deck. To the audience, it simply appears to be a fancy cut. This move; which has many applications in card magic, is also explained in detail with step-by-step photo illustrations in Si Stebbins Unplugged in the "Reversed Selection" beginning on page 28.