The spectator is told to remove that number of cards from the center pile and put them on the right pile.

The magician tells the spectator to take 2 cards from the center pile and put them on the left pile. Then to take one card from the center pile and put it on the right pile.

The magician asks the spectator to secretly count the number of cards in the center pile, pauses for moment to privately consider the mysteries of the universe, then tells the spectator there are 6 cards in the center pile. The spectator acknowledges the magician is absolutely correct.

Handling

As long as the spectator starts with 3 or more cards in each pile there will be 9 cards in the center pile minus the number of cards in the magician's last two requests.

In the example above, the final center pile is 9 cards minus taking 2 cards and putting them on the left pile and 1 card and putting it on the right pile, resulting in the center pile being 6 cards.

Presentation

To ensure that the spectator takes 3 or more cards to start, spread the deck face up on the table, turn away from the spectator and tell him to take 1 or more Kings, 1 or more Queens and 1 or more Aces. Then point to another spectator and ask her to name any card in the deck. For instance she says, "Seven of Diamonds." Tell the spectator assembling the pile to take that card as well as one other Diamond of any value.

None of this means anything, but it results in a modest number of cards so the spectator won't spend too much time counting as the effect proceeds.

In giving the spectator directions, the last two requests made can be any number. In the example above 2 cards and then 1 card are removed from the center pile. This can be varied by telling the spectator to move 1 or more cards from the center pile, then asking if he'd like to move another card or not. Just subtract the total moved from 9.