How many times did you see this magician perform? If just the once, then it’s also possible that the magician just lucked out. I know of magicians who will alwa

How many times did you see this magician perform? If just the once, then it’s also possible that the magician just lucked out. I know of magicians who will always ask an audience member to think of a card as the first thing, just in case they happen to pick the card that the magician knows is the top card (by briefly peeking or by having it set up). If it is, then the magician looks amazing. If not, then the magician performs another trick instead and the audience is non the wiser. I don’t know how what you described was performed, but I know that magicians often leave themselves multiple outs in case the audience doesn’t do what they want them to.