I provided my stock answer that "it's my job," but I had no idea what he was talking about. It was as I was driving home that I realized that I had inadvertently created a miracle by sheer, dumb luck. My standard close-up card routine had innocently defied astronomical odds, and I hadn't even realized it. Here's how the “lucky” performance came into being. (But please don’t let my host know.)
The Setup
In my main close-up card routine, I begin by asking a spectator to freely name any playing card. In this case, the named the “seven of diamonds,” which I quickly pulled from my pocket. So far, everything was standard. Little did I know that this was the first of the lucky occurrences.
In my second phase, another spectator selects a card from the deck and this is a completely free choice. Just by happenstance, the spectator selected the “seven of spades.” The second part of the routine concludes with a transposition and the revelation of the second selected card, which in this case was the “seven of spades.” I made no connection that by chance, the spectator had selected a second “seven.”
After a trick with a different prop, I return to playing cards to finish out the set with this particular group of spectators (which fortunately, my host and the company’s president was among). For the final stage, I influence the selection of a third playing card - the identity and revelation of my choosing.
Just by chance, I resurrected a revelation that I hadn’t used in years - something I came across in my office and recalled as being strong. The revelation for this was, you guessed it, another “seven,” the “seven of clubs.”
The spectators were very enthusiastic but I didn’t make the connection of the “sevens.” Had I realized this, I would have pulled the remaining card, the “seven of hearts,” from my wallet or something. Oh well.
Sometimes, you just get lucky and a sheer miracle is pure, dumb happenstance. But I’ll take them whenever and however they arrive.
