Sometimes called Prior Committment, but as Whispering Jokers, it fooled Penn and Teller (once), but can be done by anyone!
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|6789012 .................................................... A B
This splits the deck into "upper", "middle", and "lower" portions, labelled "u", "m", and "l".
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 uuuuuuuuuAmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmBlllllllllllllllllllllllll (9) P=10 (18) Q=29 (25)
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 uuuuuuuuuAmmX A@P=10, X@C=13 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmBlllllllY B@Q-C=16, Y@D=24 lllllllllllllllll (54-D-C)=17 remain
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 uuuuuuuuuAmmXlllllllllllllllll A@P=10, X@C=13, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmBlllllllY B@Q-C=16, Y@D=24
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmBlllllllYuuuuuuuuuAmmXlllllllllllllllll A@D+P=34, X@D+C=37, B@Q-C=16, Y@D=24
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm length=Q-C-1 lllllllYuuuuuuuuu Y@D+C-Q=8, length=D+P-Q+C-1=17 mmXlllllllllllllllll X@D+C-D-P=C-P=3, length=54-D-P=20
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm length Q-C-1 mmXllllllllllllllllllllllllYuuuuuuuuu X@C-P=3, Y@54-D-P+D+C-Q=54-P+C-Q=28
1 2 3 4 5 1234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234|678901234 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmXllllllllllllllllllllllllYuuuuuuuuu X@C-P+Q-C-1=Q-P-1=18, Y@54-P+C-Q+Q-C-1=54-P-1=43
Position of X and Y are independent of C and D, only on Q and P. So write the numbers (P-Q-1) and (54-P-1) on the two jokers. In our example, that's 18 and 43. Note that 43=25+18, and see the first diagram describing the placement of the jokers.
Singingbanana nails it here. The simpler colour-only explanation doesn't tell you what numbers to put on the cards, but makes the mechanics of the trick much easier to understand.
Another hastily constructed page by Phil Carmody
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