Out of This World (card trick)

Out of This World is a card trick created by magician Paul Curry in 1942, in which an audience member is asked to sort a deck into piles of red and black cards, without looking at the faces.

It is often billed as "the trick that fooled Winston Churchill" due to a story describing how it was performed for him during World War II.

The method behind the trick is simple and essentially self-working, and can be enhanced by the presentation of the performer and the use of other principles of magic.

[1] Chapter 13 of the book Magician's Magic by Paul Curry describes a dinner party during World War II at which a magician named Harry Green performed the trick for Winston Churchill.

According to the book, Churchill insisted that the trick be performed for him half a dozen times, and was "repeatedly baffled".

Explanation of the Out of This World card trick with a prepared deck of 10 cards (solid cards are face-up; hatched cards are of the hatch colour, face-down)
1. The top and bottom cards are extracted as marker cards.
2. The audience member freely deals cards onto either marker until stopped by the illusionist.
3. The illusionist reveals and puts the next two cards onto opposing piles.
4. The audience member freely deals the remaining cards; the piles may be of unequal size.
5. The illusionist surreptitiously moves the bottom card to the top of the incorrect pile, and splits the piles to show the cards.