Locating the aces
Most ace locations start with the four aces on the top of the deck. This fact may be suspected by the audience so it seems logical that, as a convincer, you show that there are no aces on the top or the bottom before you proceed to locate each ace. Here is a simple riffle shuffling sequence to accomplish that.
A) Start with the four aces on top of the deck.
B) Cut the top portion of the deck to your left in preparation for a riffle shuffle, then shuffle the top card of the right packet below the top ace, making sure that the rest of the stock remains intact.
C) Prepare for a second riffle shuffle, but this time the top card of the right packet goes above the aces. The situation is now X A X A A A.
D) Announce that you will attempt to locate the aces. Show that there is no ace on top or the bottom of the deck, then do a slip cut and show that you have cut to an ace.
E) Show again that there is no ace on the top or bottom of the deck.
F) Again, prepare for a riffle shuffle as before. This time you will shuffle the top card from the right packet below the top two cards of the left packet. The situation is now X A X A A.
G) Slip cut, and the next ace is located.
H) Repeat steps e) to g) for the last two aces.
It is worth noting that the bottom card and the top card change after each shuffle. A simple faro could achieve the same position, but the benefit of this ace location is that the cards are released evenly, so there is no hesitation on the release of the cards as can be seen in more complex shuffle work because you only hold two cards at a time. Also, the cards are kept on the table, and it is easy to preserve a small stock after the for aces e.g. the four kings. This little sequence could also be a good effect to precede an ace location routine involving the spectator such as “spectator cuts the aces” or “spectator estimation aces” (Andrew Wimhurst.
What follows is the video of the ace location just described. For clarity, the aces are shown at the beginning just to indicate the starting position i.e. that the aces are on top before you start. Try it out!