The card trick referred to in the article is likely the one developed by Alex Stone and described in his book Fooling Houdini, [1].
He knew the most important part of any act is showmanship, and he knew that performing well at top-level magic contests required both showmanship and less known tricks, tricks that an expert audience wouldn't be able to puzzle out quickly or easily.
It took him weeks (months? been a while since I read the book) to memorize the sequence of cards in his prepared deck (sequence generated by computer) and weeks (months?) more to go from being to do the trick to being able to perform the trick.
It's a good read - and what I just described only comes in at the end, after his intense and occasionally life threatening research into the world of magic.
He knew the most important part of any act is showmanship, and he knew that performing well at top-level magic contests required both showmanship and less known tricks, tricks that an expert audience wouldn't be able to puzzle out quickly or easily.
It took him weeks (months? been a while since I read the book) to memorize the sequence of cards in his prepared deck (sequence generated by computer) and weeks (months?) more to go from being to do the trick to being able to perform the trick.
It's a good read - and what I just described only comes in at the end, after his intense and occasionally life threatening research into the world of magic.
[1] http://foolinghoudini.com/