Bar tricks without the labor

These things never get old. Hell, when does that happen with a free drink?

Many times you'll read about tricks that are tailored more towards magician demigods like David Blaine or Criss Angel, but these babies can be performed well after a couple rounds (and with at-hand materials).

The Dollar and Bottle

Materials: A dollar bill, empty beer bottle, patience

The pitch: Lay down the bill flat against a hard surface, and place the bottle upside down atop the president's head (the more decadent the bar, the larger the bill).

Tell your buddy to remove the dollar without touching the bottle and without letting it fall. Depending on how inebriated he is, that thing will tower over.

Now, it's your turn.

The solution: Make it so that the width of the bill is facing you. Grab the edges, and slowly roll one end of the bill to the bottle. Imagine rolling-up a Persian rug. Continue at a slow pace, and eventually the bottle will slide off completely.

Beer Money

Materials: A dollar bill, an unopened beer

The pitch: Tell the bartender not to uncap the beers. Instead, bet your friend you can do it with a dollar.

The solution: Take the dollar (a crisp one if possible), fold it in half, and then start rolling it tight like a cowboy cigarette. Now, take it and bend it in half, creating a quasi-arrow. Hold the open end between your thumb and finger (the idea is to turn this into a lever).

Use the other hand as a fulcrum, supporting the bottle as you slip the dollar corner under the cap's lip. Tssst. <-- That's the sound of free beer as you pop that baby off.

Cigarette Bend

Materials: A dollar bill, two cigarettes

The pitch: Do this however you will. Either you lay down your smokes or your buddy's, but what you do is tell them to bend a cigarette in half without breaking it. Don't bring up or even show the dollar, just watch as they break it in half and flick of the tobacco leaves.

The solution: Take out your bill and wrap it tight around the cigarette. What you're doing is creating reinforcement so when you bend it, you can almost touch the cigarette to both sides.

Slowly unroll it and watch the awe-struck spectators marvel at the unharmed, and smokable, cigarette.

Yes, these all involve a dollar and some type of rolling, but there's no fancy set-up and someone's bound to have bills and cigs.