What is The Jack The Bounty Hunter Card Trick?

The jack the bounty hunter card trick is an engaging card trick that takes onlookers on a journey following one of the jacks in the deck. To commence the trick a jack can either be selected from the deck first or a volunteer selects a card first. Lets say in this example a volunteer first chooses there card from the deck. Following this a jack is then found in the deck and placed on the table. The deck is then thoroughly reshuffled to show it is indeed randomized. During all this obviously there is commentary about jack the bounty hunter trying to find his criminal which is the card that the volunteer selected.

Next two decks are dealt to both you the magician and the volunteer. These 2 decks consist of 15 cards although this isn’t stated in the trick. The cards left over are then sat to the side. Now on the table there is the 2 decks along with the face up jack card and the face down card selected by the volunteer. Next both the decks on the table are split in two. Now there are 4 decks sitting on the table. The volunteer can then place the card they choose on top of one of their two decks. Once this is done the magician then tells the volunteer that jack is going to find his criminal.

The jack is then placed on top of one of the magicians decks, still face up. the deck the jack isn’t sat on is then placed on top of the deck with the volunteers card and the volunteers other deck is then placed atop the deck with the face up jack. These two decks are then combined. The deck is then once again split in two by placing the cards one by one onto the table from the top of the deck on two separate sides until there are two decks. The deck with the jack face up is then picked up and the other deck pushed to the side. The cardician can then state something along the lines of “jack is narrowing down his search”.

This process is then done over and over again until there are two decks with only two cards. The magician may then say something like “lets see if jack found his criminal” after which the deck with the jack face up is then chosen. The face down card is then revealed and is the card that the volunteer selected.

That is the jack the bounty hunter card trick. It is a simple trick that doesn’t require a lot of sleight of hand making is perfect for beginners. Obviously though it has become quite a well known trick so as discussed an experienced cardician should add some individual flare in order to make the trick unique to their act.

How The Trick Works

The jack the bounty hunter card trick is a simple math trick. The trick doesn’t take a lot practice you just need to know some simple things. First of all once the two decks are dealt and the volunteers card is placed down on one the diagonally opposite deck must be placed on top. The volunteers other deck must then be placed on top of the deck with the jack on top. The deck with the jack in it must then be placed on the deck with the volunteers card. From this point the deck must then be dealt from the top card and right to left on the table from your perspective.

That is it then the process is repeated over and over again until the jack and the volunteers card are in a deck together. Overall this trick is simple to do and just involves math. To make this trick work showmanship should be added and the audience should be engaged. This is obviously a well known trick so it is important to add some flare and individuality as a magician. Here is a video tutorial for more information on the trick: