My favorite topic is shortcuts. The master of shortcuts -- it's, of course, nature. But I will demonstrate different ways to get rid of difficulties and go to the point, to find an answer probably much quicker than Arthur did. So, first, we violate the common sense, the logic. All of you, if you hold your hand like this, 90 degrees -- all of you. Not you. All of you, right? Palm up. If you do this, the common, the logic says you must turn the wrist. Do you agree? Good. But I will first teach you a method, how you can do it without moving the wrist, and then the shortcut. You can do it immediately, right? Hold the hand like this, palm up. Don't move the wrist. The wrist is -- I doesn't speak very many, but I do the best, what I are. Right-molded you say, with iron? That was a joke, actually, and I -- OK. Hold the hand palm up. Do this, don't move the wrist. Over the heart, don't move the wrist. Forward, don't move the wrist. Up, don't move the wrist. Over the heart, don't move the wrist. And forward. Yeah. Now -- (Laughter) -- logic, logically, you have got to this position from this, without moving the wrist. (Laughter) Now, the shortcut. (Laughter) But it was six moves. Now with one move. I start here, palm down, you can follow. And then look at me. Yeah! (Laughter) One move. OK. So, that was the warming up. Now, I need an assistant. I talked to a nice girl before, Zoe. She has left. No! A big hand. (Applause) Good. Nice. And you can sit over there. One item here was water, right? And I will give my tribute to water. I think it's enough with water for me. The other guys can talk about -- cheers. (Laughter) Beer has about -- there's a lot of water in beer. (Laughter) So, now I will demonstrate different ways of memorizing, control cards and so on. And I think I'll take off this one. I work with a special method to do it, quick. I work with precision -- oh, sorry -- control and a very powerful ... memory system, right? (Laughter) So, if -- I have studied the poker. I like to gamble. Officially, I don't gamble but ... So, if we are -- if we have five person, and I will do a five-handed poker game. Now I will interact. So a different person all the time, so not the same person can answer. So we have an agreement. Which one shall have a good poker hand? Which number? One, two, three, four or five? (Audience: Three.) Lennart Green: Three -- good. And here, I had a mat here to make it a little -- the critical moment is -- sorry. If a card shark gathers the cards together, immediately when he -- before he deals the card. Now, so I think, number three, I have arranged them in a full house. (Laughter) With queens and -- it's OK -- queens and tens. That's a challenge. I like this. I will explain later. One, two, three, four, five. I start with three queens. So here you see the contrast when I treat the cards. And two tens. Yeah. Thank you. (Applause) But also the other hand is good, if all the other guys have good hands too. So these guys have actually a stronger hand -- three aces and two kings. This guy beats them with four of a kind, or deuce -- deuce. No reaction? That with even -- OK, and this. These look in order, I'm probably -- hopefully -- yeah. Three, four, five, six, seven and ... But, of course, I will have the winning hand. Ten, jack, queen, king, ace. Yeah. So, good. (Laughter) So the hand that looks so good from the beginning, number three, at the end was actually the lowest hand. Such life. Right? So, please mix them. Now, if you are interested, I will demonstrate some underground techniques. Yes? I work with kind of estimation, shuffle tracking -- ah, good. Impressive. Thank you. (Laughter) So, first, the first term is estimation. Here, I can estimate exactly how many cards are put between my royal flush. Of course, I can count the cards, but this is much quicker. Right? You agree. So here I have, actually -- I know exactly where the cards are. So here, I can make a bet, and this is actually one of the points where I get my money. So here: 10, jack, queen, king, ace. OK. (Applause) Next is a term -- I do it quick. I call this stealing. So here, I think I know about where the cards are. I will spread the cards and you'll say stop, when I point to them, right. Point, say stop. Zoe: Stop. LG: Here -- you see some are missing? And that's the stealing cards, which I did. (Laughter) OK. Now, another term called shuffle tracking. Shuffle tracking means I keep track of the cards, even if another person shuffles. This is a little risky. So -- because if you look, now, I can still see it. You agree? But if you square -- square, and shuffle, and then a cut. So here, to follow my cards, I must look at the shuffle from the begin -- ah, we are started together. It's OK, it's OK. Come to -- no, no, no, no. I'm joking, yeah? Any style -- yeah, good. Here I have to calculate, but actually, I don't like to calculate. I work direct with the right brain. If you pass the left brain, you have to take care of logic and common sense. Direct in the right brain, that's much better. And so -- (Laughter) -- Arthur Benjamin did a little of the same thing. And if you work with, in the right atmosphere, with humor, you have -- that's the password to the cosmic bank of knowledge, where you can find any solution of any problem. OK. Now, I drop the cards, and you say stop anyway, right? Not at the last card. Zoe: Stop. LG: Yeah. When I'm sober, I do this much quicker, but we will check. (Laughter) Ah, not in order, it -- that was a mistake. No, I'm kidding. (Applause) No, now and then I put in a mistake, just to emphasize how difficult it is. Right? Yeah, last night I forgot that. That was a mistake. But now I'm glad I remember it. So, this deck is bought here. Sorry. I have a little pad to make it a little softer. This deck is bought here in America. It's called "Bicycle." And this deck is very flexible, but not so many people know, if you check, if you press at the right spots, you see how thin and flexible this deck is, right? Now, you can carry this in your wallet, so ... You don't see it, make no reaction? (Laughter) So, but here, and -- is the camera getting too much? No. (Laughter) Yeah? (Audience: It's getting too much.) LG: Pardon? But then, when we will have it back, you do this. But not too much. Then you have to push it down again. Here, please. If you push these heaps -- everyone see -- push them together so they are really interlaced, right? Yeah, good. Perfect. Just push them through, good. Thank you. And then, I will demonstrate a thing from Russian satellite, stealen -- stolen, probably copied from America but we will see. Here -- shortcuts. I talk about shortcuts. Now I go very quick through the deck and try to find some pattern. The new chaos theory is already old, right? But you know, I think you are familiar with fractals -- the Mandelbrot spirals and all these things. And it's much easier to memorize cards in a pattern way, and not concentrate. If you concentrate and calculate, then you go to -- then it's the left brain. But if you just look and talk in another language ... Yeah, great. I think I have it. So now, different persons, older, tap. Please name any card, anyone. (Audience: Jack of spades.) LG: Jack of spades. Jack of spades. I think jack of spades is number 12 from the top. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. Yes, right. So -- oh, jack of spades. You said spades? (Audience: Yes.) LG: Ah. My fault. Don't applaud, this was clubs. So, jack of spades. I think ... 23 -- 24, sorry, 24. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 -- ah, 25, yes. It's the last. Now, I do it quicker, better. OK. Another person. Oh, I forgot, I shouldn't shuffle but I think -- (Laughter) -- actually, my technique is to peek, all the time. When I lift the heap, I peek. You see, yeah, perfect. Three, four, five, six. Then I calculate -- yeah, good. (Laughter) Another person, another card. (Audience: Seven of diamonds.) LG: Seven of diamonds. Perfect, my favorite, yeah, seven. So I will do it quick, very quick, but in slow motion, so you can follow. (Laughter) Seven of? (Audience: Diamonds.) LG: Diamonds, good. I start here. Good, thank you. (Applause) The thing I did -- I peeked. I know where the card were, then I chose it. So another person, another card. (Laughter) Another person. (Audience: Ten of diamonds.) LG: Pardon? (Audience: Ten of diamonds.) LG: Ten of diamonds, yeah. I think I do it the same way. I like to, so I know where it is. Ten of diamonds. But now I do it the regular speed, right? Ten of diamonds. Good. Maybe you will cut? Lift. Excellent. So, thank you. Another person, another card. (Audience: Five of clubs.) LG: Pardon? (Audience: Five of clubs.) LG: Five of clubs. It's not the same person, even if it's the same spot. We can take some over there later. So now, I will drop the cards. And you'll say stop, anywhere. Got it? Five of clubs. Not the last. Yes, that's difficult to find a card here. (Laughter) We do it again. The person who said five of clubs say stop, when the cards are in the air, right? (Audience: Stop.) LG: Very good. OK. (Applause) OK, I had to use a little force there. I think we save five of clubs. And now a card with a contrast of five of clubs. (Audience: Queen of hearts.) LG: Queen of hearts, yeah. Excellent. I love that card. Here, I will do the most difficult thing. For example, you are sitting in Las Vegas, and you're betting, and you let the other guys peek this card by mistake. Feel, it's just the regular, one card. And now, when I lift this card, it shall be your card. What was your card? (Audience: Queen of hearts.) LG: Queen of? Queen of hearts. So that's a tough challenge, right? So here, I grab -- you know this? Five of clubs ... and queen of hearts. Yes! This is a tough one, because here I must take advantage of -- I switch it with the five of clubs. So, now a false count. Which card shall I use? Queen or five? Zoe: The queen. LG: Queen, yes. So, I use the queen, and here's five of clubs. The false count -- and the number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight -- you say the same card all the time. Eight, nine, 10. This is a kind of optical deal, right? When I put one card at a table -- look, it's not one card. It's -- look, it's a bunch of cards that gives this impression. Yeah. Now some hard stuff. I think we keep the queen here, yes. Now, to the satellites things. This -- oh sorry, don't look at the beam. My fault. (Laughter) This is high-frequency laser, and it's enough with a fraction of a second to destroy the retina completely. Right, sorry, my -- I should have mentioned that, yeah. But you can relax, because it takes half an hour before it works, so you have plenty of time to see my whole performance. (Laughter) Now, I put the laser here, and -- now, when I deal the cards in the laser, I know where they are but -- yes? Did the camera got it? No? They didn't? What happened? (Audience: It disappeared.) LG: OK, I'll take another group. Do the cameras see the cards now? No? (Audience: No, they're all gone.) LG: But you see the hand. Ah, good, good, good. But now. So now, that was the reason, right? You see the cards? Yes. (Laughter) Yeah, good. Now -- (Laughter) -- one guy laughed. So now, to find the queen, do it this way: take back the other one, take back the queen. (Laughter) Yeah, interesting, but a little dangerous. (Laughter) I liked it. Now, a little more difficult. Name -- anyone, name, please, any suit. (Audience: Spades.) LG: Spades? Spades, good. So here, here I have to peek, lots of cards. I think there are lots of -- I don't know how many -- but 10, 15 spades in a deck, at least, right? (Laughter) So every time I lift the heap, I peek, right. Then I arrange them so I can get them quick. Perfect, excellent. So I start with the ace -- yeah, ace. Ah, yeah -- spades? Same mistake as before, right? So -- I arrange the spades -- the clubs. I try to do this right here. First, I take the spades. You see, I don't work with prestige, so always do mistakes. It doesn't matter to me. And now and then, I get some extra sympathy points, right? One, two, three, four -- yes, the camera got it? Five, six, seven, eight -- ah -- nine, 10, the jack, jack of spades, queen of -- I like that laugh, yeah! Good. Queen. (Laughter) Wait, wait, wait -- please take any card. Grab any one. Quick, quick, good. And we switch this to the king. Ace of diamonds. And now, look, ace of diamonds will guide. So I find ... king of spades. There was the place. And here is king of spades, correct? Yeah? OK. (Applause) Now, a little more difficult thing. Maybe you think I have the cards in order already, so you help me to shuffle again. Another suit, please. (Audience: Armani.) LG: Pardon? (Audience: Armani.) (Laughter) LG: It was after the blindfold. I like this guy, yeah. OK. That should be my end effect, but OK. Armani -- who said Armani? You? I drop the cards and you -- which size? Which size? It's a piece of cake. I like challenges. Which size? (Audience: Extra large.) LG: Extra large, OK. Say stop. (Audience: Stop.) (Laughter) LG: Yeah, Armani. OK. (Applause) Ah, this is tough. OK, a suit. I had clubs before, spades. Another suit. (Audience: Diamonds.) LG: Diamonds, perfect. So, in this case, I try to locate diamonds. I look at the cards, and OK. We try. Yeah. You help me. If I drop the card face up, like this, you reverse it. Zoe: OK. LG: OK, now. Do with both hands, and quick. Yes, good, good. (Laughter) I think we have it now. Yeah, good, good. So here, diamonds, hearts -- no, diamonds. Good, good. Stop. Do you see the pattern? No? Now? Yes, yes, OK. I work with pattern. Oh sorry, I dropped one. Maybe it's important -- yeah -- nine of diamonds, OK. So now -- I always ask, why do I put myself in this position? I have to figure out so many outs, when I miss some cards, but I love it. So now, I will do it. I will try to find the diamonds, but I will do it the hard way. It's too easy to do it right away, right? I think I will do it ... blindfolded. At this distance, it works immediately. Aargh! (Laughter) Duct tape. I look -- shake the cards, so I don't. Go ahead. Yeah, good. I like the empathy. Empathy. But it was -- did you hear? It was women's voice. Hear the guy -- yeah, more, more, more. (Laughter) Yeah, good. Yeah. You can take the nostril too, because some guys think -- (Laughter) -- some guys think I can peek through the nostril, so do more. Go, go. Right? Good. Satisfied? Looks good, like Batman. Ow! (Laughter) No, with dignity and elegance, right? But I like her, yeah. I said, be a little tough. And it was OK. One more? The last. OK. All right. Now you must agree that I'm -- I must rely on other senses, right? I work with vibration. So, what was the card? Diamonds. Ah, I memorized hearts. So now I have to improvise again. Maybe I'll stand up. Half. Diamonds -- I'll start with ace of diamonds. Just kidding, warming up -- king of hearts. (Laughter) And I give you a diamonds, so they -- so you put them here, in a nice row, right. And you can see, yeah? Good. Ace of diamonds, yes? Zoe: Yeah. LG: Good. Good. Two -- (Applause) -- thank you. I never ever miss two. This is interesting. Always I've found two, but the wrong color. Spades, sorry. And the deck is a gift to you after, so let the skepticals here, in this, examine them, right? Remind me. It's a gift. Two -- and it was two of spades, right? Sorry, two of diamonds. I'll do it quick now. Three -- three of diamonds. Yes! Four -- I like challenges, yes. Yeah, good. Chris Anderson: You're peeking. LG: Pardon? CA: You're peeking. You just got to -- this is a request from the lady in the back. (Laughter) Okay. Try that. LG: Yeah. Also listen. OK, now. This is maybe a little tough. We will try. Yes? Good? (Laughter) OK. So, how many cards? Five? Zoe: Four. LG: Four. Is five the next card? Zoe: Five of diamonds, yeah. LG: It's not here? Zoe: It's not there. LG: Oh. So here, all the cards are face down -- you agree? (Audience: Yes.) LG: Yes? You see that in the screen? And this is face up, and it's not at the bottom here. So next card will be -- was it five? Zoe: Five. LG: Yeah -- I will reverse it face up here. Yes? Zoe: Yeah. LG: Six -- six with the thumb. Seven. Yeah, I do this. I know where it is, because I peeked before and then I do this. Right? Eight. If -- and then nine, right? Yeah. Yesterday -- the day before yesterday, I was in Vegas, and I used this actually. Nine? Yeah? Correct? No? Yes! Ah, good, good. Ten -- once again, I love this Jonny Wayne move. Yeah. Jack -- you [unclear] with Jack? Jack of diamonds, correct? (Audience: No.) LG: Yes? And queen! Queen, with misdirection. Misdirection. (Applause) Yeah? And then, king, after exactly five seconds. Yeah. Five. Five seconds. One, two, three, four -- mmm! Check it. Yes? CA: King of diamonds. LG: Ah! Good. Oh. Touch me, feel -- ah, ah, you know! CA: Ladies and gentlemen, Lennart Green! LG: Okay, thank you.
Why not link to the nice-to-look-at video at TED.com?
High quality version here: http://www.ted.org/index.php/talks/lennart_green_does_close_up_card_magic.html
He picks good assistants
Hilarious. What a great magician. Loved the cards in the laser trick.
I think he uses his bad english to add another element of confusion to the whole thing.
ILLUSIONS, Michael.
I have a few of Lennarts instructional videos - he's an awesome magician. His handling is very interesting - he's got complete control over everything he does, but he makes it look so casual and messy he completely disarms his spectators. It's not easy either - once you've learned to handle cards professionally, it's very hard NOT to be precise and slick in their handling.
It's so obvious what he's doing here. I don't see how you guys are missing it. It's clearly witchcraft, duh.
"No reaction... huh."
Zipped mp4