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Yeah how do you do? Do you ask the spectator to hold it and think of a card turnover. Or the ID that becomes visible? Or have you come up to an own variation?

andreasolsson wrote:Yeah how do you do? Do you ask the spectator to hold it and think of a card turnover. Or the ID that becomes visible? Or have you come up to an own variation?

There are many variations on the basic presentation. Didn't you get instructions with it?

Whatever you do, don't hand it out to a spectator. Ever!

I don't 'perform' the ID as-such. I tend to keep it as an out.

However, one of my favourite performances has always been a 'do as I do' routine...

Effect
Take a red ID and a blue regular deck.

Hand the regular deck to the spectator, as you take the ID behind your back.

Ask them to also put the deck behind their back, and turn one card over.

You say you will do the same.

Bring your deck forward, and hold it in front of you. Ask them to do the same.

Ask them to spread theirs out and take out the upturned card. You do the same.

You've both chosen the same card!

Like seige, I leave the deck as an out, although it is useful to perform it once in a while just to keep your hand in. This is the fundamental problem with ID; its the perfect out and yet its too good an effect to be left out of your performances.

When performing this as an out, it depends how much information you have as to how you present. If you know what the selection is (peek) you may choose to go into a straight revelation (of course if this is the case, other outs are available). Otherwise, if you've really messed up, then I just stop what I'm doing and go straight into, hey, are you thinking of a card? No, I'm sure you have a card in the back of your mind. Maybe its subconscious, think hard, try and bring it to the front of your mind. Have you got something? Great, lets try an experiment ....

I hand the deck (boxed) to the spec and ask them to clear their mind. I then patter about suggestion and how I can make people think of things at will, ie - a playing card. As I am doing this, I make suggestive expressions with my hands as if I am trying to influence their thoughts before I reveal my 'prediction'. I use this as a closer all the time and I've found that this particular presentation really blows them away, especially if you really build it up!
I know this is possible with a regular deck, but this method is fool proof and leaves you to really focus on your performance.

MagicBill wrote:I hand the deck (boxed) to the spec

Okay, yes I over generalized my never hand the deck out comment.

I don't even know where my ID is anymore. I used to keep it as an out but then I learnt about the collosal killer. Since an ID isn't something I always carry and my wallet is, the ID out has fallen by the wayside.

However, I would use it as some kind of routine in itself if I used it more often. I like Bill Malone's idea of instead of the magician being the centre of attention, make a star out of one of your specators.

Saying that, If you wanted to keep it as an out you could couple a few different outs together, and really emphasise how confident you were that they would pick that card by telling them six times, lol.

seige wrote:I don't 'perform' the ID as-such. I tend to keep it as an out.

However, one of my favourite performances has always been a 'do as I do' routine...

Effect
Take a red ID and a blue regular deck.

Hand the regular deck to the spectator, as you take the ID behind your back.

Ask them to also put the deck behind their back, and turn one card over.

You say you will do the same.

Bring your deck forward, and hold it in front of you. Ask them to do the same.

Ask them to spread theirs out and take out the upturned card. You do the same.

You've both chosen the same card!

ooh, i like that one. cept the problem is you have to carry around more then 1 deck on you.
gotta try that out soon,

I take mine out in an envelope which is well sealed and stapled. When you get inside the envelope the box is tied with string. If I have enough people around I get a thing going getting people to chose different aspects of the card - one choses colour, another suit etc etc. Then I give them all the opportunity to change their minds.

Then I let one of them unwrap the deck down to the box when I take it back. I have to conrol which way I open it of course.

The effect of the deck being so obviously "untamperable" (is there such a word???) seems to catch peoples imagination.

Just to Clarify something here.

The gimmicked deck used in the performance of the routine Known as " the ID", Is in fact correctly known as "Joe Berg's Ultra Mental Deck."
The original routine and set up, can be found in a number of publications, most notably the "Joe Berg Book", A hugely underated book ,( available from magic books by post) containing most of Joe Bergs Practical thoughts and inventions from over 60 years in the buiseness.

How fast do you go through the deck, what is the most aesthetically pleasing speed?

that depends on where the card is in the deck. Near the front, go slower.near the back, go fast, then slow down.

Strep wrote:How fast do you go through the deck, what is the most aesthetically pleasing speed?

Aesthetics?

Hmmm...

Well, the most natural speed is as quickly or slowly as you would if you were simply spreading the deck.

If you're stumbling or looking as if you're counting cards, you'll look suspicious.

It isn't something I do myself (as I mentioned above - I don't even know where my ID is anymore!) but I think it is generally more pleasing to see the card right in the middle of the deck. For this reason I suggested a while ago that you could create some kind of easily memorisable stack and put the deck in that order. This way you can just give the deck a vaguely guesstimated cut to make sure that the card is around the middle.

Depending on how your persona works with your magic and how you handle cards (do you cut them regularly for no reason whilst talking between tricks, etc, etc) a simple cut before you spread through the cards would not raise to much suspicion. I don't think it would be very impressive if you spread through the cards and it just so happens to be the very bottom card that is face down.

Also, does the deck really need to be in a random order? Especially if you're presenting it similarly to Johnny Wizz (detailed above for all you "post skippers"). With this, that start of the patter can be that you opened a new deck yesterday, took one card, turned it upside down, put it in an envelope, etc. That why, why would the cards be in any particular order?

I like the idea (obviously for bar-magic) of saying that you're reversing a card in the deck behind your back, then spreading another deck over a pool table and getting a spectator to hit a ball around the table and turn over the card the ball lands on (or closest to)...then you reveal the card you've "reversed" in the other deck. not really a mental effect but magically baffling....and this way noone needs to say the name of the card.