Mental card tricks are performed by the magician knowing aspects about the deck. The magician doesn't use trick decks, but he uses methods unbeknownst to the audience to tell certain cards apart in the deck. Most mental card tricks involve the magician knowing what card an audience member picked from the deck.
Instructions
1. Look at the bottom card while shuffling the deck. In order to keep the bottom card the same while shuffling, release cards from the bottom side of the deck first so that the same card is on the bottom of the shuffled deck. You can ask the person to put the card back on the top of the deck, cut the deck and put the bottom half on the top half and fan the cards out to find the person's card, which will be to the right of the card that you saw on the bottom.
2. Use a deck that has a picture on the outside of the cards, like a sports team logo or scenery. You can position the cards so that they are all facing the same direction and then turn the deck before the person puts the card back into the middle of it. You'll then be able to tell which card he picked.
3. Put the cards in an order and don't shuffle the deck in front of the audience members. The best way to do this is put the cards in numerical order and in suit. Then, you'll be able to tell which card is out of place.
4. Use an assistant and to help you determine things about the deck and the cards. For example, you could have an assistant who sees the card drawn by the audience member and have her touch it in a different manner than she touches other cards.
