talkmagic.co.uk

WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!

Amen to that, Midas Kid. That is sending a flag straight up my pole, mate.

I could not agree more with the any time, any where, any deck principle. There's a gorgeous feeling of triumph when a spectator grabs a deck of cards and tries to find the duplicate, or the odd card etc.

And as for going off thread, why not start a new one with this? It's a subject close to mine, and I'm sure, many other's hearts.

couldnt agree more.... the downside is that with packet tricks you can pretty much learn a new effect in a few hours but to do the same with a perfectly ordinary deck just using sleights takes so much longer... but its still the way id prefer to do it

For sure, there are very few packet tricks that you couldn't, with a bit of thinking and the right knowledge, manage to more or less duplicate with sleights. Whilst I do love gimmicks for making some things easy I would rather just be able to carry one pack of cards around with me and to be able to entertain.

I learned the Elmsley count from Simon Lovells basic card technique video, and I have found it has come in very handy, specially if caught on the hop and asked to a trick.

Hi guys..

I've been trying to do the elmsley count for about three weeks now. Sometimes I just mess it up.. other times it's Ok and some times I even fool myself as it's just so natural I don't really realise that I've done it.

So my questions..

1: How tight do you need to hold the cards when doing sleights only I can't seem to get it right and need some pointers.

2: How do you look after your cards so that they slide nicely. Mine start off fine (well some packets are Ok and others are not) and gradually they tend to stick together more and more making the elmsley count really difficult.

I am learning it form the Kaufman DVD which explains it pretty well I thought.. I will need to master a deep count (whatever that is !) at some point I guess but for the time being I'd be happy just to get ther fingertip version working 100%

Thanks everyone.

Slippery

Don't despair! Having been defeated with the dreaded EC for 12 months or so, I recently managed to get the hang of it. I also have Kaufmann's video but I found the description in Techno Card Magic more helpful - I could see everything Kaufmann was trying to explain but it just wouldn't work for me! If I just take the cards and try the move then the first time isn't very good, the second time is so good I almost send myself a fan letter, then after that it goes downhill again. I'm told it's just more practice and making sure that you observe everything you do when it goes right and making sure you don't let small variations creep in to spoil things. I also found that bending the packet of cards upward so the centre was higher than the edges made quite a difference. No idea why, it just did!

However, there are real experts at TM who can do the EC with both hands at the same time, blindfolded and under 50ft of water so I guess they'll be along to offer some advice in due course!

Glub Glub.....

Tightness of grip varies from sleight to sleight, but for the most natural appearence it should never be too tight or too loose but just right!

Try counting the cards normally at the figer tips elmsley style and feel how tight the grip is, now try your elsmsley with the grip as close to that as possible. You might have to play around with the timeing you move your hands with and the angles that cards approach each other to get it to work properly but when it does it will look pretty natural.
I find that I grip the cards tighter in the push off hand than I do in the receiving hand when I do a finger tip elsmley (rarely) so you could see if that feels more natural to you.

Nick

(resubmerges whilst tying hands back together to do some more practice)

ok spanner in the works time can anyone help with the elmsley with jumbo cards.
i just recieved steven tuckers my first card trick which uses the emsley but dosn't explain it at all.
a pm description or vid would be nice and thanks for the deap emsley vid facinateing.

Push Push Pull Pull !!!

The_mog you're a genius. I've been struggling with the Elmsley Count for a while - it was all over the place.

I read your PPPP post and it worked immediately.

Many thanks.

Push Push Pull Pull is just too good! Totally works every time.

It's got me wondering - are there any other very simple mental checklist patterns that people find useful for various sleights?