Disclaimer: This is not original, just an independent discovery. This is for those of you who use a full memorized stack and an Ultra-Mental/Invisible Deck. (This is the last time I’ll be calling it the “invisible deck”.) It’s a way to organize the Ultra-Mental Deck so you don’t have to do that awful add-to-13 thing, and there’s no patterns. No all odd or all even.

Pros of using this system:

• You know exactly where the named card will be in the spread, meaning that if you wanted you could cut the cards to have the target more towards the middle.
• You know exactly what pair to split without any hesitation.
• The cards look random in the spread. There is no pattern to what cards are visible.
• It’s easy to set up. If your Ultra-Mental Deck gets messed up for whatever reason, you’ll be back in action before you know it.
• You know exactly what side to open the deck to before you start to open up the box without any calculation, even for Kings.
• There is no thinking, really. It’s all instant.

I use the Tamariz stack. (Let’s also avoid saying Mnemonica, as that just means memorized deck in Spanish according to Juan.) All I do is take the cards in the stack and pair them to the next respective card. So I pair the first card back to back with the second, the third back to back with the fourth, and so on. So when you are finished, the entire spread on one side is odd-valued cards, and the spread on the other is even-valued, with the even value always being one higher than the odd value it’s paired with.

Let’s say someone names the 7 of Spades. We think in our minds 37 (in the Tamariz stack). Meaning it’s amidst the odd-side spread. We must then open up the box to show the even-sided spread, and spread through to find card number 38. You know now to split the 38th card when you see it (the 10 of Hearts, in the Tamariz stack) to reveal the back of the 37th card, the 7 of Spades (in the Tamariz- you get the point).

Another thing. We’ve all been in the position of forgetting which way the deck was oriented in the box. In our case, it’d be forgetting if the deck is odd side up or even. We can do that awkward little peek before we pull out the cards, but I prefer this.

Remember the 10 of Hearts being on the back of the Bicycle box? Since it is an even-valued card in the Tamariz stack, I always place the even side towards the back of the box. If I am ever in doubt, I just look at the box and if I see that 10, then I know I’m opening up the even side. The front “Bicycle” side of the box will be odd.

That’s how I organize my invisible deck. I understand there are some handlings where you spread with the back of the spread facing towards you. You hold the spread in a necktie-ish position, and simply look for their named card in the spread facing you.

This is also a very easy solution, but I find it lends itself towards stage or parlor environments. It kind of sucks shit in casual situations. (Drew originally said “Holding the deck that way isn’t the most natural in casual situations.” But really, it sucks shit in casual situations. ~Editor)

The handling I describe here works well for a casual card trick in a social situation, or stage or parlor. You can spread the deck the way you would any other time, know what side to open up quicker, and still use the handling from Jerry’s Checking Your ID as a convincer.

I wanted a way to do the Ultra-Mental Deck without calculation, hesitation, or any mental stress. For me, this is a great solution, and anyone else who has mastered a 52-card stack should try it out.