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Hi everyone! This is my first post so please bear with me if I do anything wrong!!!

I'm a beginner at magic although I have always been interested in it. Anyway, I recently got John Kennedy's Mind Power deck as a birthday present. Whilst I am reasonably happy with it, I have tried it out on several people and only one failed to spot the fact it has ardvarked cards involved. Has anyone else faced that problem and, if so, how did they solve it? It seems a bit suspicious to spread the deck and then almost immediately scoop the cards up again....but if you linger too long then they spot the working.

Hope anyone can give me some advice

Hi - welcome to Talkmagic! The Mind Power Deck is a very useful item but there are things which can be done to improve it - firstly it helps if you disguise the awful design on the back of the cards a bit. Check out the old posting on http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic1207.p ... ht=kennedy and you'll get an idea or two!

One way is to leave the deck spread so that it looks ordinary while you talk for a short while. Owners of the MP deck will know how to do this. Pick it up and respread it so that it looks not-so-ordinary (again this will make sense to owners of the MP deck), and ask the spec to quickly look at a card and remember it while you look away. After a couple of seconds ask if they've got a card. Turn round and pick up the deck. No-one will spot the "work".

I tell them what I am going to do before hand, and then spread the cards and immediately collect them so they are probably spred for less than a second. No-ne has ever not seen a card because they are prepared for what they have to do, and nobody has ever spotted anything odd cos they don't have time.

That's how DB handles it and it's worked for me. You want it spread for as little time as possible. You don't want them to 'choose' a card, you want them to 'remember' a card. This difference is subtle but important psychologically. You don't want them sitting back, rubbing their chin and looking them over until they find one they like. It's:
'Remember a card'
Spread the deck
'Got one?' at the same time as you're regathering it.
You're not really asking if they've got a card yet, you're telling them to get on with it. They can spend as much time as they like looking at the spread afterwards (well, depending on your effect) if you're worried that the hurry-up will put heat on the deck. If you use the 'disguise' idea from the other thread you should be able to manage a deck switch at a suitable point too, leaving you totally clean.

Well I got my mind power deck after I got DPB so it's not much of a surprise that I handle it similarly to DB! It is much easier, cleaner and more effective that way, though I don't do the full card is cigarette bit.

'Smoke' gets in your eyes?

Well everyone I know knows I don't smoke so it would be a bit odd!

Thanks for the tips guys. I think maybe I've been guilty of standing back and letting the spec look too long at the spread - will have to start "taking charge" and dictate to them to get on with remembering a card!

Thanks for everyone's help.

I'd recommend that anyone thinking of using the MP deck uses Derren Brown's handling tips on his tape DPB or his book Pure Effect (same tips). One very clever one enables you to have a free guess without anyone realising it is a guess, and another narrows down the shortlist of possibilities (this should make sense to anyone with the deck).

Does the deck happen to have 8 force cards or more or less?

you would probably have to buy one to find out due to exposure.

It's not really exposure asking a generic question like that, it doesn't give away the method at all...People are so trigger happy in using the word exposure...

probably because people are so trigger happy with exposure.
It just didnt seem very generic to me, more specific to the effect. You know what it can be like on here with fishing.

The fact that it has 8 force cards or not is irrelevant to the actual makeup of the rest of the deck, Pretty much all someone knows would be that, it could mean that the deck only comes with 8 cards....I know otherwise, it doesn't say anthing about gaffs, or different handlings, I really don't think it would affect my purchase , Just let me know if it has any more then 10 and if i doesn I won't purchase it, but I beleive it is 8 since you are defending it so heavily.