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Is it actually possible to perform Mercury in front of a real audience without getting cought?

I believe that there is no possible way to pull that out without getting caught.

Unfortunately I cannot disclose much details about the trick, my hands are tied to the rules of this site.

Perhaps you can do this by using ultra-thin cards. Although I don't know from where can you buy them.

Atleast in my country I have found no place to buy such ultra-thin cards.

Doing it with "normal" cards will reveal everything. Just how can you make 5 cards appear as one - pentalifts??? You must be kidding me

Although I remember in some other trick where I think Brad was talking about ultra-slim cards that you can buy on ellusionist.
Although I don't remember which trick that was.

I have never performed that trick on spectators yet. I just don't have the nerves to pull such a trick and get caught.

People never remember your success and never forget your failures.

Dead Man Walking wrote:Just how can you make 5 cards appear as one - pentalifts??? You must be kidding me

Well, I don't know anything about Mercury, but I do know it's possible to get away with that kind of move with the right choreography. Bannon's Dear Mr Fantasy has an effect (the fist one in there, I think - the first ace assembly that's in it anyway) which makes use of what Mr B calls a 'discrepant fat block switch. When you read it you think 'No way', but it's not as impractical as it sounds if you know how to direct people's attention and use large movements to distract from smaller ones.

I usually perform street magic and in college, so I'm surrounded by like 20-30 people who are exceptionally close. So for me its just impossible to perform.

Those who have some distance between them and spectators might do it.
Although I have never tried it on people but I believe people will definitely know the difference between the width of 4 and 8 cards.

Anyways, I'm not going to try this until I find some ultra-slim cards.
I'm just not getting the nerves for doing it

Dead Man Walking wrote:I usually perform street magic and in college, so I'm surrounded by like 20-30 people who are exceptionally close.

how would the 30th person still be "exceptionally" close? on second thoughts, er... how would the second?? (ah.. the english language, mad)

anyway, rather than have this massive stack of 5 why not spread them out. 4 doubles sounds a lot more convincing to me

Dead Man Walking wrote:I believe people will definitely know the difference between the width of 4 and 8 cards.

Is this just a turnover? If it is then it depends how closely people are looking at the cards. It depends how closely you let them look at the cards and whether you've given them reason to want to look closeley at the cards. It depends on whether you're giving them something else to look at or something else to think about while you're dirty.
If you don't look guilty, if you do the turnover on an offbeat, if you seemingly aren't paying attention to what you're doing, if you're talking to a spectator, asking a question or otherwise getting eye contact you can get away with it.
Three cards don't look like one either but when did that ever stop anyone Twisting the Aces?

how would the 30th person still be "exceptionally" close?

Hahaha hope you said that as a joke and nor pulling my leg.

The 30th persons pushes his way to the front then is again pushed back.
So all people get a chance to exceptionally close.......just joking.

rather than have this massive stack of 5 why not spread them out

At some part of the handling you have to have 4 cards hidden under one.
i.e. 5 cards as one

@Charles Calthrop: Yeah, he tells to move your hands a lot and never keep your hands steady so you can get away with it.
Just look at the Demo on the website - he never kept his hands steady.

OK now I'm getting nerves to try it out. Although I'll try on my family/friends first......just in case.....

If I can get away, I'll get all the guts to perform for college/crowd.

The secret to performing this effect well, is the moment you introduce the '4' cards you will be using, cover this move well, and people only suspcet 4. Also the reapearence of the 4 aces in the deck is good misdirection, as alex notes on the dvd, for you to cop away the evidence of you deception.

I have performed this a few times, and found that the reactions have not been what i hoped for. I think if people dont choose the cards themselves, the immediatly suspect something, even on a subconious level. Howver, perform this in the context of a poker game with friends, where lapping is an option and you will be regarded as the king of cards.

hope this helps

Atomo:

I tried it many times and failed quite often, but other tricks using misdirection work so it is not my fault? It is just a trick which is almost impossible!

So you have to hold five cards as one? Index finger running along the top hiding the thickness, thumb at the side doing the same thing...keep the packet angled down a little bit and in motion.

Since the effect was originally created by Ascanio (I can only hope Mr. Kong actually credited him for it in his instructions), perhaps you could check that out for handling tips/ideas.

I don't think its alll that hard, I pulled it off everytime I performed it quite well.

Personally I don't think much misdirection is needed till the end, the aces in the deck do well enough.

Personally I think it's easier to pull off than Asher Twist, and pretty much same angles, directly on top if possible, it is easier, but not as clean. And I think the ending is quite well.

He does credit Ascanio for the spread by the way.

Not all Ellusionist products are bad...but most are rips for "n00bs"

K

If you purchase this DVD then you'll not need to speculate as to whether it can be performed live or not. Simply speaking - IT CAN BE! (and also with normal cards).

I've never heard such tosh as ultra-thin cards

There are angles to be conscious of, but how many other tricks, whether cards, coins or gimmicks also require the same or similar consideration for angles? I'd say a lot.

If you're a street magician (which I don't doubt) then one aspect of performance that you and every other street performer should be very conscious of is audience management.

Of course you can do this live. I do it all the time. You can hand them the aces to look at. Do the routine and have the aces face up in the pack as instructed on the video.

k88 wrote:He does credit Ascanio for the spread by the way.

I wasn't talking about the spread - the entire effect was created by Ascanio LONG before David Kong.