There's video of him manipulating cards in front of 3 or more mirrors, just to see what you see.

Yeah very similar set up. Just as legendary.

Ricky Jay (1946 - 2018), RIP to the legend. Indeed, his card tricks were just unbelievable. I sure wouldn't play cards with him!

Brilliant comment and so true. You're right, pure magic.

How do we know the players are not in on it?

He dares you to understand how good he is. It's Inception like magic.

Michael Shaffer your lucky to have seen a master in person. He's amazing

He's a legend.

I got to see him perform in 2002 in NYC, and got to shake his hand and he autographed one of his books for me. Still have. It was one of the finest magic acts I have ever seen, and I also saw In and Of Itself. Which drew a lot of inspiration from Ricky J. Miss the old man.

I can think of an extremely easy way of pulling this off, but is there a source you could point me to such as a particular book or author, in case there's another way? I'm an amateur magician/mentalist if that helps, I even have Mnemonica and Aronson down cold! Thanks in advance for any help.

@@valmarsiglia Thanks to some smart editing, the deck switch is unseen by us, but you will need one (and good false shuffles) to pull this off. The trick? "Pokericulum" by Stewart James.

@@luckyman1071 Thanks so much, I really appreciate the info! I figured a switch was involved.

Simply the Best love the way he talked and the way he carried himself

Yes, he died just this past week. Not a joke...you can verify it on the internet.

That made me tear up instantly. Just heard of his death today. Seeing the pure joy he brought to all those grown men was astonishing. Just look at John C Reilly's face at the egg trick in slow motion at the end.

Just finished watching the Heist for the 2nd or maybe the 3rd time. That's what drew me to this video.

I’d seen him in Nolan’s The Prestige in a small role, and had also seen him in PTA’s Boogie Nights and Magnolia, the aforementioned Nolan film I had also read he was the magical consultant and found out he was a stage magician. Brilliant sleight-of-hand and great oral speaking skills to tell a story with the manipulations and tricks and some of the urban legends of the magic world!

He and David Mamet had a long friendship. Ricky is in several of his films, Heist included.

He's also in Spanish Prisoner and House of Games, among other films. He was also a great character actor.

Heads I win, tails you lose.

Amazing psychology

chilling understanding of conditioning and puppetry on display with that line

Oh my god, I didn't hear that. Wow, bold.

It's a form of "double bind" , an ericksonian hypnotic language pattern, two options which really are just one. "Would you like to sign contract now or prefer lunch first?"

The effect you describe was recorded in Mark Singer's 1993 profile of Ricky Jay in "The New Yorker". Here it is, extracted from the entire article: "I'm always saying there's no correlation between gambling and magic," Jay said as he shuffle-cut the cards. "But this is a routine of actual gamblers' tech- niques within the context of a theatrical magic presentation." He noticed me watching him shuffling, and asked softly, with deadpan sin- cerity, "Does that look fair?" When I said it looked fair, he dealt two hands of five-card draw and told me to lay down my cards. Two pair. Then he laid down his. A straight. "Was that fair?" he said. "I don't think so. Let's discuss the reason why that wasn't fair. Even though I shuffled openly and honestly, I didn't let you cut the cards. So let's do it again, and this time I'll let you cut the cards." He shuffled again, I cut the cards, he dealt, and this time I had three tens. "Ready to turn them over?" My three-of-a-kind compared unfavorably with his diamond flush. "Is that fair?" he said again. "I don't think so. Let's talk about why that might not be fair. Even though I shuffled the cards"-he was now reshuffling the deck-"and you cut the cards, you saw me pick up the cards after you cut them, and maybe you think there was some way for me to nullify the cut by sleight of hand. So this time I'll shuffle the cards and you shuffle the cards." Jay shuffled the deck, I riffle-shuffled the deck and handed it back to him, and he said, "And I'll deal six hands of poker-one for myself and five for you. I'll let you choose any one of the five. And I'll beat you." He dealt six hands. Instead of revealing only one of my five hands, I turned them all face up. "Oh, oh," he said. "I see you want to turn them all over. I only intended for you to pick one-but, well, no, that's all right." The best of my five hands was two pair. Jay said, "Now, did that seem fair?" I said yes. Jay said, "I don't think so," and showed me his cards-four kings. I rested my elbows on the table and massaged my forehead. "Now, why might that be unfair?" he continued. "I'll tell you why. Because, even though you shuffled, I dealt the cards. That time, I also shuffled the cards. Now, this time you shuffle the cards and you deal the cards. And you pick the number of players. And you designate any hand for me and any hand for you." After shuffling, I dealt four hands, arranged as the points of a square. I chose a hand for myself and selected one for him. My cards added up to nothing- king-high nothing. "Is that fair?" Jay said, picking up his cards, waiting a beat, and returning them to the table, one by one-the coup de gr?ce. "I. Don't. Think. So." One, two, three, four aces.

@@luckyman1071 It was an amazing display, and, mind you, he was sick with asthma and some other bronchial condition. RIP indeed. A genius.

@@surfingonmars8979 Amen, a genius, verily. I, too, was fortunate to be the onstage witness to a performance of this routine. Shortly after his death I wrote up my personal experience with him in a FB post: Ricky on my mind, and not just the auction. In 2002 I was an audience assistant for “Ricky Jay: On The Stem”. As I sat next to his card table I shifted my seat slightly for a better view of any unseen “work” that might go on. For this I received-deservedly-a brief, but hard glare from the artist, but the performance continued. Jay launched into his "Was That Fair?" poker demonstration. (Mark Singer described this multi-stage performance piece in his 4/5/93 New Yorker article: "Secrets Of the Magus.") At one point Jay pushed the pasteboards my way and requested that I shuffle. After a couple of riffle shuffles-nothing excessive-he leaned toward me and snapped his fingers in front of my face stating broadly and facetiously, “Come on, this is DEAD TIME”. The audience chuckled; I just ignored him and carried on. Now there is a way to riffle shuffle a tabled pack with a light touch that looks very tidy. This I did and, keeping the deck on the table, I pushed the cards into register using only my thumbs and second fingers and then towards Ricky. Silence. He pronounced: “Well, you HAVE played cards before…”. Here followed laughter from the audience that subsided into an awkward silence. I could only stare down at my hands for a moment and then return-impassively-his gaze. More silence, you know, the loud kind. What to do? Nothing but turn to the audience with a crooked grin and give my shoulders a slight shrug. They liked that.> ------ One of his teachers was a Canadian/American, Dai Vernon. Vernon once said that, "genius is the ability to take infinite pains." This seems to chime well with Mr. Jay's work. Be well.

Ricky Jay (1946 - 2018), was an absolute legend. Especially with cards. This vid is one of my favorites.

I agree. Ricky had many magic tricks, but he really liked the card tricks the best. RIP to the legend.

I work with noise-canceling headphones at work. They work much better than normal earplugs, and most of the day I have only one ear covered. This sounds about right.

@@homerco213 That can't be good for your ears.

combine it with bottom deal

I once met a master card magician (not Ricky). I asked him if he could cut the cards and then tell me how many cards were in the piles. He was within 1 card. I bet Ricky Jay had the same dexterity.

I believe so, and the chap to his right appears to be another actor, Willie Garson.

I remember Garson from NYPD Blue...he played a nebbishey creep that lived in the building that Bobby Simone inherited.

@@edwardbronston1099 He's still active. I remember him from Stargate SG-1, where he played Martin Lloyd in 3 episodes, including the comedy ep "200". I've watched SG-1 far too often. :)

Willie Garson good actor plays a con artist on white color and of course he was on Sex in the City

You're god damn right

I was thinking this exact same thing last night but couldn't word it as eloquently.

@@LowEndMarauder Thanks, Dan -- what a generous thing to say. I remember a line Mamet wrote for his character in 'The Spanish Prisoner': "Worry is like interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due." Have a good weekend.

Also Willie Garson from White Collar

He was amazing, one of the very best magicians ever. This is one of my favorite vids. He was at a peak and enjoying it as well.

Probably got banned from every casino he was that good! 😂

+Aulia Rizky Bee Playing Cards

The video quality is poor so it's hard to tell, but the backs seem to be little bitty diamonds. If that's the case, that would make them Bee Club Specials, pretty standard in Nevada casinos (the ones I am familiar with).

Bee

Will Thompson - The movie is “Chicago”. (Based on the Broadway musical of same name)