talkmagic.co.uk

Since this sub-forum is pretty quiet, I figured I'd post a question for my fellow-magicians - amateurs or pros:

What trick have you performed the most often throughout your life so far?

And how many times would you estimate that you have performed it altogether?

Like most fumbling amateurs I tend to flit about and rarely perform the same thing over and over. I suppose the routine I've performed most would be Mesage from Titanic by Peter Marucci although the version I like has been changed from Peter's original work with amendments by yours truly and others. Basically It's a card trick dressed up as something else, no sleights, no tricky stuff, one 'move', one prop and a deck of cards plus lots of story telling. I've performed this perhaps thirty or so times, the peak being, of course, back in 2012 when we were commemorating the centenary of the sinking. Must dig it out and give it a go again!

Probably my own Murder in Mind routine for me, it's evolved quite a bit over the years but it usually gets rolled out in one form or another in at any gig that I do.

I've been using Hunter's Impossible Knot for around fifty years; it's my party piece. How many times? No idea. Several hundred, probably.

Barry

My opener for aaaages and ALWAYS gets a great reaction (nice to break them in gently) is Chicago Opener (aka Red Hot Mama).
Nice and easy to do, so it helps settle yourself in as well

You'll be able to work out yourself how it's done from the vid, but I can assure you, this kills them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PWEl8gjQ-Y

4-phase Ambitious Card routine ending with card in mouth. Lay people love it.

JohnnyMac wrote:4-phase Ambitious Card routine ending with card in mouth. Lay people love it.

I nearly always do the ACR as well. The card ends up in my mouth, but the last phase is when their bent card jumps to the top - the version I do is in Oz Pearlman's "Born to Perform" DVD.

moonbeam wrote:

JohnnyMac wrote:4-phase Ambitious Card routine ending with card in mouth. Lay people love it.

I nearly always do the ACR as well. The card ends up in my mouth, but the last phase is when their bent card jumps to the top - the version I do is in Oz Pearlman's "Born to Perform" DVD.

That's a great trick. I'll sometimes vary it and do the bent card jumping to the top.

After a show, I'll often ask a few people what their favourite tricks were. More often than not it turns out to be the ropes routine I do and "The one where the card ended up in your mouth."

My opener which involves signed card transposition, ACR & ends up folded into 6 in my mouth. Just worked out an approximate number of times i've performed it....

6,400 times.

russpie wrote: approximate number of times i've performed it.... 6,400 times.

So that's, er (where's me abacus) 6,400 divided by (assume no jokers were involved) 52, er... 123 decks and 4 extra cards !

Easily the svengali deck but I don't think that counts!

mark lewis wrote:Easily the svengali deck but I don't think that counts!

Sure it counts!

How often do you think you've done it altogether over the years?

EndersGame wrote:How often do you think you've done it altogether over the years?

Mark is a former (?) pitchman who sold these decks all over the globe so I guess the number of perfomances will be very large! See the review of Mark's book all about it at ftopic12876.php

The Svengali pack is a utility device, not a "trick" (unless you finish by showing all the cards the same, which immediately proves it's fake). It's much more useful as, for example, a forcing pack.

Barry

With all due respect the idea that the svengali deck is a mere utility device is a load of old cobblers. It is not a "trick". It is many, many, many tricks. Furthermore the daft notion that I often see espoused that you should never show the deck to be all the same and then all different is also a load of twaddle as it easily the most effective trick that you can do with the deck. And you SHOULD make them think it is a fake deck because when they examine them and find they are wrong they will show great astonishment over the matter. And yes, there are ways to do this..........

I still remember Ron MacMillan telling me once in a scoffing manner that the svengali deck was just as good as any other card trick you might feel like showing. And you know something? He was probably right!

Of course most magicians know very little about the deck and just think it is a forcing deck. Well, it is far, far more than that. I have used it in many situations where I am not trying to sell them. The entertainment value is stronger than you might imagine.

Here is an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Ok6HCjH9Y