This Trick is called A Coin in The Hand. Derren Brown has performed this trick on his television shows in the past.

It is very hit or miss but if you follow the performance technique below you might surprise yourself on how you can guess more accurately which hand the coin is being held in.

You invite a volunteer to take a large coin from their pocket and place behind their back, then tell them to place the coin within their hand and create a fist.

They bring their fists in front and time and time again you correctly guess in which hand they have hidden the coin.

When the volunteer brings their fists into view, you are looking for visual clues as to which hand contains the coin. Look for the following:

i. The direction their nose is pointing – seriously! It is a tell-tale sign on which hand the coin is in.

Their face will turn to the hand that holds the coin.. very slightly!! But enough for you to notice this if you look very carefully!!

ii. Which fist looks more clenched. Look for whiteness around the knuckles. You tend to hold an object tighter in your hand subconsciously because your body realises it is there and you must not drop it.. It is a natural thing your body does and will work in your favour. 

You will not necessarily get a match on both of these clues but since you already have a 50% chance of getting it right just by guessing, a hit in one of these significantly increases the chance of getting it right.

Be prepared to get this one wrong occasionally. You can turn it around and pay a compliment to your volunteer, saying “you are really good at this!”

Also remember to stop while you are ahead. Correctly guessing just 3 or 4 times is enough to complete the effect. Do not push your luck by carrying on – because the volunteer will then try to catch you out.

It is a very simple trick to fool the spectators and it is all to do with watching the tell-tale signs. You may fail but you will always have a 50/50 chance of getting it right!!

Another method is to both have one coin each and try to match each other. When the specator opens his hand, you open your hand too revealling you also chose the same hand..

How this works is unknown to the spectator, but you have one coin in each hand… so when they open their hand to reveal the coin you also open your hand but do not open the other hand….

Another method of the Coin In The Hand for you to try.

Try and find Derren Brown performing this trick and learn off the master.

For more free magic tricks like Coin in the Hand, click here