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Lucky breaks!

Dai Vernon pointed out (in the discussions on the Vernon tapes) that while doing card magic we should always be ready to utilize coincidences that by fluke might arise. His famous effect “the trick that cannot be explained” is based on this principle.

Did you ever perform when just every break went your way?


Here is what happened when I performed at a Christmas Ball in an Oxford College last year.
A number of spectators just arrived to the table where I was performing. I was set for Lennerts Green version of Shuffle board (by Arenson). I ALWAYS present this effect as an estimation effect rather than a prediction effect. I had just finished my final killer effect for the previous group of spectators and was having a short break. While I was about to begin the next performance one student suddenly cut the deck of cards on the table and asked how many cards he had cut. I answered “29” without any slight hesitation hoping I would have the opportunity to count the cards myself and thereby ensure that there would be 29 cards. I knew 29 cards would not be too much of, but probably I would (under the conditions) only be correct with probability 25-30%. Anyway he counted the cards and there were exactly 29 cards! “That is easy, I explained” (very relived!!!).

The cards on the table had partly been reversed (by the spectator’s counting procedure), however in a glimpse I got the break under the correct card (this was easy since he cut more than my st**k), and began to hand out different parts of the pile for the spectators to shuffle. When they shortly later were told (after a spectator reptedly had shuffled face up into face down cards until I called "stop") that "21 cards – at this very moment” are face down and that “11 of these are reds” the spectators literally were floored when this turned out to be the case. And after the final kicker the spectators were clearly more flabbergasted than usual when I normally do Lennert Greens version of Shuffle Board.

After that a few other effects (that are based on multiple outs) went straight through!! This is the kind of thing we want to remember!

Later in the evening someone spilt his beer on my close-up mat but that is a rather different story!

Now I am sure you also had this type of lucky break. Do you remember any in particular?