talkmagic.co.uk

Soren Riis wrote:

I will just assume that it is lack of experience working in the real world that would have you say such a thing?

Absolutely not! I fact I have never seen a serious card magician use a stripper deck.

They exist, let me tell you! There's a very famous street magician using one right now. You've never detected these people because they use them beyond what the introductory "strip and cut" texts would have you believe is the limit of the deck's potential

Dear Tomo,

After having read your book, maybe I will regret what I wrote about tape recorders and bikes with support wheels! I suppose my main concern really concerns beginners.

People, who go into a magic shop, buy a svengali deck and the week after perform in the local sommer fete or the local city market are in my view causing damage to magic.

In principle I am not against trick decks and the ID is for example quite useful. Maybe your book will help convert me include the stripper deck in my suitcase!

I said in my intro I hate gimmicks, but im gonna backtrack slightly and say they do have a place, I own a ghost gaff deck and an ID. the gaff deck, in the right place and at the right time, comes in very handy for a few shock moments - the ID is there purely if things go wrong, so far only used it once

Of the more... adventurous gimmicks... I own third degree burn. Ive NEVER used it. why? with stuff like that its just to obvious theres a gimmick of some sort. They wont know what, but theyl know its there and for me that takes something away.

The best effects are those which have NO feasible explanation. gaff decks do have there place but only for the occasional "*gasp* oh my god the kings now a skeleton" moment... but if its possible to do the effect without it and walk away clean, surely thats the option to take?

I don't think there's anything wrong with useing a gimmick at all. Most of my card routines for example involve the use of a gimicked card or two. If you're handling and presentation is good, there's no way a spectator should ever suspect that you're using a gimmick.

I'd never open a routine with a heavily gimmicked trick, purely because of the fact that you've not yet gained your spectator's trust and somehting like that will arouse their suspision. Start with some nice clean tricks, that way you'll get the spectator's trust and that's one of the most important things in magic. Once the spectator trusts you, there's no way that they're ever going to suspect that you're up to no good with a dodgey deck.

As I've said on another thread, I always try to start and finish my routines cleanly just in case I get the dreaded 'let me see those cards'. I usually save any trick decks for encore effects. That way it's easy to switch decks as my usual deck will have been put back in my bag and if the spec wants one more the spec has undoubtably got 100% trust in you.

These debates have devided the magic community for many years, a gaffed deck a non gaffed deck at the end of the day it all comes under the broad banner of magic.

Slieght of hand is a core/fundermental point in magic it is the crux of magic. I dont disagree with anyone on that. But if you take a gimmicked deck and think of ways of using it with slieght of hand then you got some killer effects. Dave Forrest uses gimicked cards/effects and theres no way you can take away the fact the guy is a magicians magician.

What if some one wants to see your cards? When performing for real people it dosnet actually happen that much. Well In my expiracne when your working for friends who know you buy gimmicked decks that a diffirent point.

Lady of mystery is right when she says begin clean and end clean and no one will expect a thing. Magic is deception remeber that.

I never use my stripper deck, only because I'm not sure how to do the strip move without drawing attention.

I assume most people misdirect when performing the move, but what if somebody is burning the deck? Is there a way to strip whilst being burned?
Any tips?

Stripping is not the only thing you can do with a stripper deck. I suggest you buy the book. I did, it's a real eye opener. See any post by Tomo.

Hade wrote:I never use my stripper deck, only because I'm not sure how to do the strip move without drawing attention.

Don't ever do the strip directly, or the cut. Have a look at the preview of m'lovely book (follow the link in me signature) and have a look a the table of contents.

I have just purchased / ordered the stripper deck and the svengali after much deliberation and Ill go with it.. Ill see what creative juices I have flowing in my mind before I set out to buy an accompanying book

I.D wrote:I have just purchased / ordered the stripper deck and the svengali after much deliberation and Ill go with it.. Ill see what creative juices I have flowing in my mind before I set out to buy an accompanying book

Good stuff. Get yer thinking trousers on.

I have just seen this thread and have no idea what it is about. However I find myself again in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with Tomo when he said that noted magicians have used the stripper deck.

In fact one of the greatest magicians I have ever seen in my life used nothing but the stripper deck in his act when he did various card tricks. I am referring to the great and wondrous Paul Potassy.

My belief is 'keep it simple'. Fancy handling of the cards can lead the audience to believe you are manipulating the cards. I handle the cards as if I were a layman - and do not arouse suspicion with the handling.

As for the cards - I ALWAYS use a stripper deck and this has never aroused suspicion. A 30 minute routine can be done quite easily with a mixture of effects using the stripper qualities and 'normal' deck qualities.

At the end of the day it's how you come across to the audience. Miracles can be worked with or without gaffed decks - go with what you can get away with - we are all different (thankfully) and we will all have our favourite methods. Mine is 'the easiest and most natural way is fine by me'

Soren Riis wrote:

However, to use a stripper deck is like having support wheels on your bike. I recomend that anyone with ambitions of becomming a professional cyclist take the support wheels off their bike!

Personally I do not give a hoot how any performer entertains their audience - as long as they entertain. The majority of well paid entertainers get their repeat work by audience reaction. It's the audience that pay their wages not fellow entertainers.

As yet I have not used the word magician in the above statement. So - if you want to be a magician's magician then maybe you will have to use an ungaffed deck to please the purists. In the meantime if you wish to simply entertain the layman - then use whatever works for you. Paul Daniels did for years and he made a packet !

I hand my strippers out for people to show me things after I've done my stuff. It took a while to learn not to feel as if you've just handed a newborn to a Neanderthal to play with, but no one has ever thought about the cards deeply enough. It's simply not on the radar. Marking might be, but stripping isn't. New Year's Eve was a case in point. Number 1 deck disappeared for a while. Some bloke was stacking it for, you guessed it, the Four Burglars.

Ive got 101 tricks with a stripper deck and ive learnt loads of cool effects with it i managed to get some girls at school to scream from some of the tricks i did from the book i would reccomend it.