Kato On Estimation by Hideo Kato

Hideo Kato was for many years a part of the brain trust of Tenyo, thinking up new and clever effects for its line of magic products. He is the creator of such well known effects like "The Wandering Hole" or "Mirror-Mate", thirteen unique inventions altogether. Kato has a particular love for the pasteboards and over the years he has developed hundreds of miracles with them. In this ebook he is sharing 13 effects with us, eleven are based on the method of estimation and two bonus tricks. Beside a little biographical sketch about Hideo Kato you will also find a short history of estimation. He also shares exercises to aquire the skill of estimation. Altogether an excellent introduction to an extremely effective but seldom executed method. These are effects you will fool your magic friends with, particularly if they are magicians themself. See also Moe's Miracles for more tricks based on estimation.

1st edition, 2003, Lybrary.com.

1. My Days in Magic
2. MINI-HISTORY OF ESTIMATION
3. FINAL SPLIT
   The spectator cuts the deck and places the upper packet on the table. He then looks at and remembers the top card of the lower packet. Now, he places the selection on top of the tabled packet, puts the remaining cards on top of it, and squares the deck. The magician cuts off a packet of cards, states that the selection is not among them, and places them aside. He repeats cutting off packets of card and discarding them until only one card remains. The last card is the selection.
4. BY THE CHANGE OF HIS VOICE
   Magician finds spectator's card by his change in intonation while counting.
5. PLEASE MAKE A MAGICAL PASS
   The spectator shuffles the deck and places it face down on the table. He cuts the cards and looks at the face-card of the cut-off packet and then replaces it on the bottom half. The spectator selects the number; four, five, or six and deals the cards into that number of piles. The spectator picks up the pile contains his selection and discards the other piles. Up until this moment, the magician's back has been turned. Now, the spectator deals cards on the table. During the first dealing, nothing happens; but he deals the cards a second time and the magician calls "STOP!" at some point. The spectator names his selection - turn the last dealt card face up. It is the selected card.
6. TELEPATHIC TRANSMISSION
   The magician receives the shuffled deck from the spectator and starts to dribble cards onto the table very slowly. Ask the spectator to call, "Stop." When stopped, he points to the top card of the dealt pile and asks the spectator to look at and remember the top card. After the card is noted and replaced on the pile, the magician dribbles the remaining cards onto the tabled packet and squares the deck. The magician confesses that he can't find the selected card by magic, but he can use telepathic transmission instead, and asks the spectator to picture his selection in his mind. The magician concentrates and finally reveals the selected card.
7. MEMORIES OF FOUR ACES
   The magician removes the four Aces and divides the deck into four piles. He places the first Ace on the rightmost pile and the spectator cuts several cards from the second pile and places them on top of the first Ace. The second Ace is placed on the second pile and several cards are cut from the third pile and placed on the second Ace. The two remaining Aces are handled similarly. The piles are gathered together and the deck is cut a few times. The four Aces are obviously lost in the deck. The deck is placed on the table. The magician cuts about a quarter of the cards from the top of the deck and spreads the cards. He pulls a single card out of the spread and places it face down on the table. He cuts another group of cards and pulls out another card. Two more cards are pulled out in the same way. The magician never seems to count cards nor search for anything. The four cards are turned face up - they are the four Aces.
8. BEHIND MY BACK
   The deck is face down on the table and the spectator cuts off a portion from the top. He shuffles these cards, looks at and remembers the top card of his packet. Now, he picks up the tabled-packet and places it on top of the packet in his hand and squares the cards before handing the deck back to the magician. After cutting the deck a few times, the magician holds the deck behind his back. He states that he detected the selected card and places it in a special position. The magician hands the deck to the spectator and turns his back to him. The spectator deals the cards onto the magician's extended hand behind his back. The magician calls, "Stop," and turns around to face the spectator, who names his selection. He names his selection and turns over the top card of the packet in his hand. It is the selection.
9. FORCED STABBING
   The spectator shuffles the deck and places it on the table. He cuts off a packet and looks at and remembers the face-card of this packet. He replaces the packet on top of the tabled packet. The magician riffles the inner end of the deck and throws the Three of Clubs face up into the deck. He spreads the cards with the faces towards himself and asks for the name of the selected card. He then ribbon spreads the cards on the table, and count three cards from the face-up Three of Clubs and pulls out the third card - it is the selected card.
10. BLIND SPREAD
    A shuffled deck is place face down on the table. A spectator cuts the deck and picks up the top card of the lower half. He replaces the cut-off portion on the lower half retaining the selection in his left hand. He looks at and remembers the selected card, replaces it on top of the deck, cuts the deck and completes the cut. The magician picks up the deck and gives it a few cuts. He states, "I can find the selected card with my eyes closed." He closes his eyes and spreads the cards between his hands. He stops spreading at a certain point and says, "This must be your card." He opens his eyes and up-jogs a card at the stopped point. The spectator names his selection, and the up-jogged card is turned face towards the spectator. It is the selected card.
11. FACE DOWN SPREAD
    The shuffled deck is placed face down on the table. The spectator cuts the deck and picks up the top card of the lower half as his selection. He replaces the cut-off portion back on top of the lower half retaining the selected card in his left hand. The spectator looks at and remembers the selection in his left hand, replaces it on top of the deck, cuts the deck and completes the cut. The magician picks up the deck and gives it a few cuts. Looking at the spectator, say, "Usually, the magician spreads the cards face up like this to find the selected card." He demonstrates spreading but is still looking at the spectator. He continues, "But I will spread the cards face down and still find the selected card." He squares the cards and turns them face down. He re-spreads the deck face down and up-jogs one card. After hearing the name of the selected card, he removes and turns the up-jogged card face up. It is the selected card.
12. DEPTH DETECTOR
    The magician riffles the outer right corner of the deck and the spectator calls, "Stop." The spectator peeks at that card and the cards are closed. The deck is immediately handed to the spectator for shuffling. The magician takes back the deck on his left palm and looks at the side of the deck. He says, "The selected card lies twenty-eighth from the top of the deck." He proves that this is correct by counting and dealing the cards and turning over the twenty-eighth card - it is the selected card.
13. ESTIMATED ACE OPENER
    The spectator thinks of a number from one to fifty-two. The magician hands the deck to the spectator and asks him to deal as many cards as his thought-off number. The four aces appear at the dealt position.
14. MATCHING PAIRS
    Remove the twelve picture cards from the deck and arrange four sets of Jack - Queen - King in mixed suits. Gather the four packets and again show all the cards. Take two cards from the top of the packet and show that they are both different suits and different values, then place the cards on the table. Continue taking two cards, one-at-a-time, and show that each is a different suit and a different value and pile them on the table. Cut the cards in the middle into two packets. Take the top card of each packet and place them face down on the table and repeat dealing six pairs. When all pairs are turned face up, all pairs are matched in color and value, i.e., Jack of Diamonds is paired with the Jack of Hearts, the Queen of Clubs is paired with the Queen of Spades, and so on.
15. CARD VENDOR
    While pretending to push a button on the vending machine, the selected card drops out from the inner-weaved cards.

word count: 9688 which is equivalent to 38 standard pages of text