How to do the Elmsley count: the four-card false count

The Elmsley count is a false count that shows four cards as four while one of them is never really seen. It is the classic way to hide a face-up card, an odd back or a gaff card inside a small packet. The general idea is simple, but making it look exactly like an honest count takes weeks of relaxed, regular practice.

What does the Elmsley count actually do?

You hold four cards. You count them from one hand to the other, “one, two, three, four,” and the audience sees four ordinary cards. In reality, one card stayed hidden the whole time, and another card was shown twice.

That is the entire job of the move: a display that looks like a fair count while concealing one card of four. Magicpedia describes it as “a false count with a packet of four cards designed to hide one card.”

It is worth knowing how different this is from older false counts. In Magicians’ Tricks: How They Are Done (1910), Henry Hatton and Adrian Plate teach a false count that makes six cards pass for eight, calling it “a very deceptive sleight.” The Elmsley count does something subtler: the number stays honest, and only one card’s face or back is kept out of sight.

Where does the Elmsley count come from?

The move is named after Alex Elmsley, who called it the Ghost Count. He published it in 1959, in a booklet titled The Four Card Trick. It became widely known as the Elmsley count after Dai Vernon’s routine “Twisting the Aces,” published in 1960, put it in front of a generation of card magicians.

Like most sleights, it built on earlier ideas, including Edward Victor’s E-Y-E Count.

How does the Elmsley count work?

We will stay at the level of the standard public outline that beginner teachers use, not a full grip-by-grip tutorial. The general shape looks like this:

1. Count one: the first card is taken from the packet, exactly as in a true count.
2. Count two: this is the moment. As the hands come together, the first card secretly slips back under the packet while the next two cards are taken as one. Tom Stone’s lessons call these two actions the slip-back and the block push-off, and they happen together.
3. Counts three and four: the remaining cards are counted honestly.

The card sitting third from the top is the one that never shows. The first card is shown twice, but because the cards look alike from the side the audience is watching, nobody notices. So the count works best when every visible side matches.

There are two common handlings: one where the cards are held at the fingertips, and one where the packet sits in a dealing grip. Learn one well before worrying about the other.

What is the Elmsley count used for?

Magicpedia lists three classic jobs for it: hiding an upside-down card, a card of a different colour, or a gimmicked card.

Use	What the audience sees	What is hidden
Reversed card	Four cards, all face down	One card is secretly face up
Odd back	Four cards with matching backs	One card has a different back
Gaff card	Four ordinary cards	One card is a gaff, such as a double backer

The gaff use is a good example of what we cover in gaff combinations explained: a sleight covering the one moment where a special card would give itself away.

The Elmsley count also pairs naturally with the Jordan count, another four-card false display. Both Magicpedia and Tom Stone note that the two fit together, so many packet routines alternate between them.

A simple routine idea to try

Here is a beginner-friendly structure built on the reversed-card use:

1. Before you start, set up four cards face down with one face-up card third from the top.
2. Explain that you have four ordinary face-down cards, and show them with the Elmsley count.
3. Make a small magical gesture, such as a snap or a quick riffle of the packet.
4. Spread the cards slowly. One card has turned face up.

It is short and gives you a real reason to practise. Once it feels easy, you can build longer routines where cards turn over one at a time, which is the territory of “Twisting the Aces” and its many descendants.

How should you practise the Elmsley count?

Honestly, the hard part is not the switch. It is making the false count look identical to your true count. A sensible progression:

1. Master an honest count first. Count four cards hand to hand until the rhythm is smooth and boring. That rhythm is what the Elmsley count has to copy.
2. Learn the second count slowly. Practise just the slip-back and block push-off on their own until they feel soft and quiet.
3. Use a metronome. Tom Stone suggests starting around 40 beats per minute, with 60 described as a fairly good pace. Show one card per beat, true count and false count alike.
4. Alternate. Do a true count, then an Elmsley count, then a true count. If you can feel a difference, so can an audience.
5. Film yourself. A phone camera shows what the audience sees. A mirror tends to give false confidence.
6. Try cold starts. Leave a four-card packet somewhere you will find it later and do one count with no warm-up.

If you are newer to card sleights, the double lift teaches the same core skill: showing two cards as one without the edges splitting.

What are the most common Elmsley count mistakes?

• Treating it as a literal count. Magicpedia calls this the biggest flaw, advising that you treat it “as a display, not as a literal counting of the cards.”
• Gripping too hard. Tense fingers make the two cards on count two look heavy. Tom Stone recommends a lighter, softer touch.
• A hitch on count two. Any pause or speed-up at the switch is the tell. Keep the rhythm even across all four counts.
• Split edges. If the two cards taken together are not square, the extra card shows.
• Showing the wrong side. Remember that one card is seen twice. Only display the side where all four cards look alike.
• Staring at your hands. Know the move well enough to look at your audience while you count.

Where can you go next?

• The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Vol 1 by Alex Elmsley, compiled by Stephen Minch. Its description notes that the Elmsley count is one of the first sleights taught to aspiring card magicians, and Volume 1 includes routines such as “Twister’s Flush,” where a ten turns face up in the centre of a royal flush.
• Magicians’ Tricks: How They Are Done by Henry Hatton and Adrian Plate (1910), our free ebook. Its older false count is a great way to see how the idea of a dishonest count started.
• Browse our sleight of hand tricks and card tricks for more to practise with.

Frequently asked questions