Vernonesque Card Set #1

Total reading time: 45 minutes

✨ Overview (TL;DR)

Date: 20 September 2026

This three-trick card set is the one I most often perform when someone asks to see some of my card magic. It begins with a strong opener—a minimalistic rendition of Ambitious Card—continues with an easy-to-follow handling of Vernon’s “Twisting the Aces”, and concludes with a knockout three-phase approach to “The Last Trick of Dr. Jacob Daley”.

• Set Type: Three-Trick Card Set
• Difficulty: ★★★★☆ (Intermediate)
• Audience Size: Close-up/Parlour
• Duration: 10–15 minutes
• Setup Time: Under a minute (three Aces on top of the deck)
• Reset Time: Under a minute
• Props: A standard deck of playing cards
• Key Moves & Principles: Braue Addition, Vernon’s Twisting Motion, Elmsley Count, Flushtration Count/Orion Count, Through-the-Fist Flourish, double and triple turnover

You can learn the full details of each routine by following the links below (each page will open in a new tab/window):

1. Underambitious
2. Twisting the Numbers
3. Three Times Daley

Performance Notes

These performance notes explain what you need to do to combine these three tricks together into one, singular routine.

The setup is fairly straightforward: secretly place the Ace of Hearts, Spades and Diamonds on top of the deck. The Hearts should be the top card of the pack. That’s it!

Begin by performing “Underambitious”, first published in Vernonesque #1. However, use the Ace, Two, Three and Four of Clubs instead of Diamonds, as described in the original write-up; this will enable you to transition directly into the first phase of “Twisting the Numbers”, ending with the cards in numerical order, with the Four of Clubs on the face of the packet.

Now, to transition smoothly to “Three Times Daley”, put the cards on top of the deck without changing their order. Then perform a standard Braue Addition to switch out the Two, Three and Four of Clubs for the Ace of Hearts, Spades and Diamonds on top of the deck. As far as your audience is concerned, it simply appears that you’ve turned the four cards face down on top of the deck, and then dealt them into a single pile on the table.

Pick up the pile, and announce that you’re going to turn the Two, Three and Four of Clubs into the three other Aces. Make a magical gesture, then perform an Orion Count (or Flushtration Count) to apparently display four duplicate Aces of Clubs. Whoops, the magic has gone awry!

To fix your apparent mistake, execute Vernon’s Through-the-Fist Flourish, immediately followed by a face-up Orion or Flushtration Count to display four regular Aces to finish this transitional trick.

Situation Check

The Aces are in D-S-H-C order, with the Ace of Clubs at the face of the packet.

To casually set the packet up for a performance of “Three Times Daley”, cut the two top cards (the Ace of Clubs and Hearts) to the bottom without changing their order. Next, perform the following face-up overhand shuffle sequence: run two and then throw two. Then run another two and throw two. Turn the packet end-for-end, then perform a triple turnover to display the Ace of Spades on top and begin your performance of “Three Times Daley”.

Note: The only additional modification you need to make to the subsequent handling is that, after the black Aces have transposed, don’t deal the three cards in your hand on the table one at a time; simply drop all three on top of the face-up Ace of Clubs instead. This leaves the Ace of Hearts on the face of the packet, ready for the second phase of the trick.

Hot Tip 🔥

If you want to learn this three-trick card set, I strongly recommend that you learn each trick individually first, then return to this page to work out how to stitch the three together into a single flowing performance.

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