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My mate Leigh just loves to burn hands. He loves to burn hands so much that he never looks me in the face and follows my hands like a dog's eyes follow a biscuit.

I'd like a trick just for Leigh because I can rely heavily on the fact that he is blinkered to all but my hands.

I would like to either like a comedy trick where I can be showing everyone else something. If I stuck a card to my forehead and put both hands on the deck he'd not look at my head.

... or a routine which he has to make a choice in. Like one where I split the pack in half and hold them wide.

Imagine the worst burner in the world. That's how he feels to me. Rather than not perform for him at all, I though it best to think of something just for him.

Any ideas?

OOTW...dress it as a prediction...

surely the best way is to mess about with a couple of self-workers? maybe not even use cards? swop in some photos for example...

Yeah, I do use self workers with him too, but they don't have the pazazz. He spotted the final move on OOTW (version from DPB).

He also insists on riffle shuffling if you ask him to mix cards.

well...i disagree that self-workers would lack the necessary pazazz...

i'd be inclinded to use your mate as a prime candidate for people management, be almost forceful and command his attention...questions, eye contact, pointing...

and, maybe, just stick with the original working of OOTW, but with the sadowitz shuffle as mentioned in Devil's Picture book instead...

Look into some stuff from one of Abraxus' favorites - Lennart Green!

Practically every effect offered on Green Lite fits the bill. Your friend can burn your hands all day long and still get completely blown away by some of the effects on there.

Rain Man, $26,000 bet, 4 Aces Squared, The Eye of Stonehenge and the Dragon's Pearl are phenomenal effects that are easy to do from a technical standpoint - and can be done completely under fire.

Bannon's Dear Mr. Fantasy offers up Degrees of Freedom, Wait Until Dark, and Beyond the Fabulous - nearly self working and they can also be done with a spec burning your hands.

Don't count out his excellent Play it Straight Triumph effect. It has the riffle shuffling he likes, too.

I also highly recommend seeking out Paul Green's Jeopardy effect (featured on his In the Trenches DVD). This is one of my absolute favorite effects of all time. It has riffle shuffling just like your friend likes - and to make it even more fair - he can help with the shuffling process. Amazing effect.

As Abraxus said - mind-boggling self-workers are out there. Hope these few help you get started.

all hail The Mighty Lennart!

yeah, green lite is a good shout from Demitri...

Just grab Fulves "my best self-working card tricks" too while you're at it...they're not all "count out this many" types...

No matter how many "Burners" I've dealt with, there's always been one trick that floors them. And that is "That's It" by Eddie Fechter (found in ETMCM #2). My DS is pretty much undetectable, even while I'm getting burned. It's all a matter of angles, and where you hold the cards. If they are burning me, I put the cards close to straight down from their eyesight, so they are looking pretty much straight down on the deck. That way, my right hand's cards give enough cover for the split second that I need to perform the DS.

Once you get past the DS, the next move, the DL, can be done pretty sloppily, as your "burner" friend assumes you messed up, so they relax their guard, and stop burning your hands so much. Once you do the final reveal, their reaction is priceless. At least, that's how it turns out for me.

The answer is simple. Triumph. there you go.

how about a nice PK effect, the psychic compass from Karl Fulves Self Working Mental Magic book is brilliant for totally throwing these kinds of people off.

Or even the coin trick, that first one is good. People dont really argue with mental stuff.

Paper balls over the head is in my opinion THE BEST trick to do on people that like to burn you, to annoy you, to check the cards in your hand, or your just your hands of even when you are in the middle of something and the like of them.
Also it's a very funny effect that puts you a little bit over that person, nothing that will embarrass him, but will gain you your proper respect from him, and maybe will convince him to pay more attention to you then to your hands.

How's about an ACR - as taught by Oz Pearlman on "Born to Perform"?

If his eyes are burning your hands so much - he'll prob miss the bit where the selected card ends up hanging from your mouth. It's quite comical - you look up at him and if he's still staring at your hands, you pause and do nothing. If he still doesn't look up, you point up to your mouth with both index fingers (or whatever ).

Guaranteed to get lots of laughs

How about 'Sam the Bellhop' by Bill Malone. Its full of what looks like knuckle-busting card shuffles and 'moves'