Theory11

There's nothing more shamefully dorky than pulling out a magic trick in a bar -- but if it gets you a free beer, this dork's getting drunk. Bone up in a minute, at Theory11.Started by eleven industry heavyweights (including consultants/producers for Davids Blaine & Copperfield -- yea!), T11 currently offers 50 pay-per-download, 10- to 15-minute instructional vids, each teaching an individual trick, from Easy ("Blueprint" = making a discarded card reappear on the top of the deck) to Advanced ("Unicoin" = invisibly shifting four coins from one hand to the other). We sat down with a few of the T11 crew and asked them for a starter slight of hand, and to kindly have their rabbits stop crapping on our couch:

Step 1: Take a shuffled deck, and discreetly note the bottom card.
Step 2: Have a rube pick any card, note it, and place on top of the deck. Have them cut the deck once or twice, which will place their card directly below the bottom card that you memorized.
Step 3: Start flipping over cards from the top of the deck, lining them face up. When you see the card you initially memorized, the next card flipped will be their card. Continue flipping a few cards past their card, then stop.
Step 4: Bet them a beer that the next card you flip over will be theirs. Seeing their card already on the table, they'll assume you're continuing with the deck. Wrong, sucker. Once they agree, flip their already exposed card onto its face.
Step 5: Celebrate like a bastard.New vids are posted every Friday; to dive in deeper there's an active discussion forum, as well as more elaborate instructional DVDs for sale which, once mastered, will guarantee that you no longer have any friends to win free drinks from.