Deal with the Devil
Reading time: 9 minutes
✨ Overview (TL;DR)
Date: 21 July 2026
A spectator selects a card “by association”. The Four of Clubs—the Devil’s Bedpost, the unluckiest card in the deck—is used to locate the card the spectator merely thought of. The deck is then cut into three piles, each tapped with the Devil’s own card. The top cards are turned over to reveal three Sixes—Six, Six, Six—the mark of the beast.
- Effect Type: Location
- Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ (Easy)
- Duration: 3-5 minutes
- Setup Time: Modest
- Reset Time: Less than a minute
- Props: Playing cards
- Key Moves & Principles: Key card, Automatic Placement
Introduction
This is another application of the Automatic Placement principle. In this case, I’m demonstrating how you can adjust the procedure to change the number of cards shown to the participant and the number of letters in the word or phrase spelt to find the chosen card.
Normally, when you don’t make any adjustment, the word or phrase “spelt-and-dealt” must contain the same number of letters as the “display number” plus one. For example, if you show your participant a total of ten cards, the word or phrase you spell must be eleven letters long.
When using the key card principle with the Automatic Placement, you can control the length of the word or phrase by adjusting the display number or by moving the position of the key card in the deck. In “Deal with the Devil”, I’ve done both. I’ve changed the number of cards displayed to thirteen and the phrase to “The Devil’s Bedpost” (sixteen letters, plus the apostrophe) to match the effect’s Faustian feel. 👿
Effect
You invite a spectator to think of a “secret number” between one and thirteen and keep it to themselves. Thirteen cards—a Devil’s Dozen—are shown, and the spectator remembers the one at their chosen position. Because you never learn the number or see the faces of the cards, you cannot know which card has been noted—though everyone else present can see it perfectly well.
You remove a single card from the deck and lay it face up on the table: the Four of Clubs, known to generations of sailors as “the Devil’s Bedpost”.
You spell out the name of the card aloud, dealing one card for each letter in the sinister name. The card reached on the final letter is turned face up. Eerily, it’s the card the spectator thought of.
The spectator cuts the shuffled deck into three piles. You touch each pile in turn with the Four of Clubs. The spectator turns over the top card of each pile: Six, Six, Six—the mark of the beast.
Requirements & Preparation
Remove the Four of Clubs, Six of Hearts, Six of Spades and Six of Diamonds from the deck. Place the Four on top of the deck, then the Six of Diamonds, the Six of Hearts, and finally the Six of Spades (from the top: 6S-6H-6D-4C). You’re now ready to perform the trick.
Method & Presentation
Perform an overhand jog shuffle, retaining the four-card stack on top. Finish with your favourite false cut to the table.
Next, explain that there’s one card in the deck that English sailors would not willingly hold. Say, “I’ll show you which one in a moment. It isn’t the Ace of Spades—the death card—before anyone suggests it.”
“First, though,” you say, “I need you to pick a playing card by association.”
Pick up the deck and demonstrate what you want your spectator to do. Begin by saying, “So, think of a number between one and thirteen, and keep it to yourself. Then, take the deck and deal that number of cards into a pile on the table. For example, if your secret number was seven, deal a pile of seven cards like this…” Deal seven cards into a single pile on the table. “Then put the rest of the cards on top, like this…” Drop the remaining cards in your hand on top of the pile.
Situation Check
The demonstration moves the stack (6S-6H-6D-4C) to the bottom of the deck, thereby reversing its order (4C-6D-6H-6S).
Turn away and give your participant time to follow your instructions. Say, “Make sure you square up the cards before I turn around, so I can’t tell how many cards you transferred from the top to the bottom. Have you done that? Good.”
Turn to face your audience. Take back the deck and perform your favourite false cut.
Tell your helper that you’re going to have her select a card “by association” under “test conditions”. You’re going to show her thirteen cards—“a Devil’s Dozen”. Instruct her to remember the card that falls on her secret number. Take the top card, show its face to your spectator, and say “One” before placing it on the table. Display the next card in the same way as you count “Two”. Take the next card and count “Three”. Continue until you’ve dealt a total of thirteen cards into a single pile on the table.
🔥 Hot Tip
Make sure you do this slowly and at an even pace so the spectator has time to remember her card, no matter which number it lands on.
Drop the remaining cards onto the thirteen-card pile.
🔥 Hot Tip
Instead of just dropping the cards onto the thirteen-card pile, you can perform Bobby Bernard’s False Swing Cut, which helps better disguise the use of a key card.
Pick up the combined deck and demonstrate a standard cut, asking your participant to do the same when your back is turned.
Turn away and instruct her to cut the cards as many times as she wishes.
Turn back to face your audience. Run through the cards until you reach the Four of Clubs, cutting the card so it becomes the face card of the deck (this action will also position the three Sixes on top of the deck). Remove the Four of Clubs, placing it face up on the table, as you say, “There it is. The Four of Clubs. English sailors called it the Devil’s Bedpost.”
Pick up the deck and slowly spell out “T-H-E-D-E-V-I-L-’-S-B-E-D-P-O-S-T”, dealing one card onto the table for each letter, and one for the apostrophe—when you reach it, say, “Because the Devil’s in the details!” Turn the final card of the count—the one landing on the “T”—face up to reveal the mentally selected card. Place this card in front of your spectator.
Drop the rest of the cards on top of the pile on the table. Pick up the combined pile, then perform a slip shuffle, running the last two cards singly, to retain the Six of Diamonds on the bottom of the deck and move the Sixes of Hearts and Spades to the top.
Establish a break below approximately a quarter of the deck, then slip-cut the top card (the Six of Hearts) into the break. When you replace the cards, retake a left little-finger break above the Six of Hearts.
Turn to your spectator and say, “I’d like you to cut a small number of cards from the top of the deck. Like this…” Cut all the cards above the break as a demonstration, lifting them in right-hand end grip. Extend your left hand towards your helper and have her cut a small packet from the deck and drop it on the table. As soon as she’s done, drop the cards in your right hand on top of the deck and ask her to cut the cards again in the same way. Finally, shuffle the cards remaining in your hand, bringing the final Six, the Six of Diamonds, to the top. Casually place this pile to the left of the other two.
Say, “There’s also an old nickname for a whole deck of cards, by the way. The Devil’s Bible.” Take the Four of Clubs and, with a flourish, tap each of the three piles in turn. Ask your volunteer to turn over the top card of each pile to reveal the three Sixes—Six, Six, Six, the mark of the beast!
Cleanup & Reset
Return the selected card to the deck. Gather up the Sixes and the Four of Clubs, arrange them in 6S-6H-6D-4C order, and place them back on top of the deck. You can do this in front of an audience, as it appears you are simply gathering the cards and reassembling the deck.
Performance Tips & Additional Ideas
The demonstration deal must contain at least four cards. Its secret job is to transfer the whole stack to the bottom of the deck; in this particular case, the stack is four cards deep. Therefore, anything from four upwards works mathematically; seven simply sits comfortably in the middle.
You never learn the secret number or look at the faces of the cards when one is selected. This is the strongest condition in the effect, but it only counts if the audience sees it honoured. During the thirteen-card display, hold each card with its back towards you and keep your eyes on your spectator—eye contact sells the condition and paces the count. If you like, say it out loud, “I’ll watch you—not the cards.” The only moment you look at faces is later, when hunting for the Four of Clubs. By then, looking can tell you nothing: everyone in the room knows her card except you.
For readers who want to customise the trick: the length of the phrase you spell must equal the display number plus the key card’s position from the bottom of the deck at the moment your spectator makes her secret deal. In “Deal with the Devil”, that’s thirteen plus four—the Four of Clubs sits fourth from the bottom, with the three Sixes beneath it—giving the seventeen cards of “The Devil’s Bedpost”.
The “display number plus one” rule from the introduction is simply the special case where the key card is the bottom card of the deck.
This gives you two dials to turn: each card you place beneath the key card lengthens the spell by one, and each card you add to the display does the same while also widening the range of the secret number. Between them, almost any name or phrase can be made to fit.
Background & Credits
While Edward Marlo named and popularised the Automatic Placement in the mid-1950s, the underlying mathematical concept has a long history. Early modern applications include Van Osdol’s “Number Trick” in Rufus Steele’s 50 Tricks You Can Do (1946) and several tricks in Eddie Joseph’s Eddie’s Dumbfounders with Cards (1950). The technique’s foundational mathematics, rooted in the Transposed Cards Principle, dates back to Professor Hoffmann’s Modern Magic (1876) and ultimately to Pablo Minguet’s 1733 publication, Engaños a ojos vistas.
The idea of maintaining a small stack throughout the placement process—so the performer can produce a run of named cards as well as locate the selection—is, as far as I’m aware, my own wrinkle. However, I doubt I’m the first magician to explore this idea, so I’d be grateful to be pointed to a precedent.
Final Thoughts
I really like the Satanic theme of the trick, although it doesn’t suit every audience, especially those that include very religious people who dislike any talk of the Devil. Most people I encounter have never heard of the Devil’s Bedpost unless they play poker, and they usually find the card’s sinister history fascinating.
The write-up above gives you the bare bones of the presentation—the history will supply as much flesh as you care to add. Read “The Devil’s Bedpost” for the card’s full story (the 1836 naval novel, the cloven-hoof legend, and the Victorian cartomancy meanings) or “Playing Cards with the Devil” for the Devil’s wider dealings at the card table.
For more routines with a similar Faustian feel, see “Tricks, Tricks & More Tricks #3: Satanic Sorcery” in Marty’s Magic Ruseletter.
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