Comments on: "My heroes have always been pocket cowboys."

"My heroes have always been pocket cowboys."

Atom Eyes — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 11:49:26 -0800

Please enjoy six minutes of Willie Nelson performing a card trick.

By: Mr. Six

Mr. Six — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:03:03 -0800

That was lovely.

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:05:37 -0800

That would've been a pleasure to watch even if he was just flipping over random cards.

By: 724A

724A — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:12:49 -0800

Love Willie. That was a neat trick. His soothing voice helps.

By: 724A

724A — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:25:00 -0800

Would love to know how he did that.

By: RolandOfEld

RolandOfEld — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:34:23 -0800

I've seen this trick before, will now look it up again. It really is a stunner and simple when you're privy to the mechanics of it.

By: RolandOfEld

RolandOfEld — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:37:43 -0800

... as I get to the ending, I don't think I've seen it end as eloquently. Well done.

By: Jick

Jick — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:38:01 -0800

If you find it would you mind posting a link here? I'd love to know how it works.

By: MoonOrb

MoonOrb — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:46:45 -0800

I could have enjoyed six hours of Willie Nelson performing a card trick. Or doing damn near anything. Man's a national treasure.

By: Decani

Decani — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:50:45 -0800

I know a variation of that which uses the same basic method. He did that nicely.

By: RolandOfEld

RolandOfEld — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:54:56 -0800

I can't find it, I don't think it's Sam The Bellhop, or if it is it's done without the need for the fancy cutting skills that I see it being done with on youtube. Sorry, as expected it's hard to find a card trick on google search without knowing the name. Pointers for those searching, also spoilers I suppose: It's a stacked deck trick and involves, as I recall, no slight of hand at all really.

By: Decani

Decani — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:59:20 -0800

I'm an (ex) magician of the old school in that I do not believe in giving away the secrets of tricks, but I think this one is not hard to work out - or at least, it's not hard to work out the principal trick. So I'm going to explain it. Of course, the principal trick is that the deck is pre-stacked in the necessary order to make the story come out right. What fools people is that the spectator is allowed to cut the deck. But cutting the deck does not shuffle it, it just, duh, cuts the deck. The stack is only phase-shifted by the cut, if you will, not destroyed. The crafty bit is the "He went to one street, two streets..." ruse. You'll notice Willy turns those groups of cards face up before he does the "...and four houses" bit. What he's doing there is looking at the cards to see where the stack has been shifted to. There's a quick, shorthand way to figure out how many cards you need to move during this phase to basically undo the effects of the cut and get the stack back in order. Once you've done that, you proceed with the next bit of the story. That's it.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:03:26 -0800

Would love to know how he did that. Well, he's got friends on 6th Street, 7th Street, 8th Street . . .

By: Gygesringtone

Gygesringtone — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:05:03 -0800

This made me happy, and will make my son happy, because he loves card tricks and Willie Nelson.

By: scody

scody — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:06:28 -0800

Question: Is there anything greater than Willie Nelson? Answer: No, there is not.

By: Decani

Decani — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:26:12 -0800

By the way, when I used to do my variation of this trick, I would always start by giving the deck a couple of false shuffles, which Willy didn't do. It's a little thing really, but it does add a bit to the mystery.

By: Jick

Jick — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:29:11 -0800

Why is it important that the houses be dealt out face down? I guess because otherwise you'd always see the flush?

By: 724A

724A — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 13:31:12 -0800

What's even more impressive is that Willie was probably stoned as a bejesus when he did the trick.

By: Meatafoecure

Meatafoecure — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:34:01 -0800

That was surprisingly intimate for a card trick. Thanks Willie Nelson :)

By: jeff-o-matic

jeff-o-matic — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:13:40 -0800

Wonderful, thanks.

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:17:48 -0800

While I appreciate the explanations, and deep down realized that that's probably how it was done, the story and mystery have a beauty the revelation doesn't. I'll give in to the wonder.

By: Ivan Fyodorovich

Ivan Fyodorovich — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:55:30 -0800

"I'll give in to the wonder." Willie Nelson is a wizard, privy to secret and powerful magicks. But we already knew that.

By: Anitanola

Anitanola — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:42:25 -0800

I'm very fond of Willie Nelson and I found this simply charming. I'm happy to see that he is properly appreciated on the blue. Thank you Atom Eyes; this just makes my day.

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 09:48:25 -0800

Thanks, Atom Eyes, for taking my mind off of Ferguson for a minutes, and for introducing me to yet another awesome facet of Wille Nelson. That was surprisingly intimate for a card trick. It's called "close-up" magic. I enjoy it as a casual spectator; someone here might know some good links to try.

By: Decani

Decani — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:58:38 -0800

While I appreciate the explanations, and deep down realized that that's probably how it was done, the story and mystery have a beauty the revelation doesn't. I'll give in to the wonder. posted by Capt. Renault at 11:17 PM on August 18 And this is precisely the attitude most magicians seek to achieve in their audience. People who aggressively demand the explanation for tricks without putting in the effort to discover them via the same routes magicians do depress me. The whole reason I got into magic was because I loved the feeling of being amazed. Long after I learned many magical secrets I always got - and still get - far, far more pleasure out of being "fooled" by a good magician than of being able to say "Oh, I know how s/he did that." This is why I have very mixed feelings about the likes of Penn and Teller. I treasure the involuntary look of astonishment on someone's face when I pull off a good trick. I treasure the same thing in myself when someone else pulls off a good trick, and amazes me.

By: not that girl

not that girl — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:26:46 -0800

The three of hearts was a marker. It's usually the last card on the last street before he deals houses face down. I noticed because the porter is also a three and I mistook the 3 of hearts for the porter once when he was laying down houses and I thought, oops. But no.

By: soonertbone

soonertbone — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 14:14:16 -0800

Here's Bill Malone turning this routine up to 11.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 02:26:32 -0800

Preposterous and fantastic.