talkmagic.co.uk

Well there are a few things that can be peformed without ANY sleight of hand but these are often the sort of things a drunk uncle would show you at a party and often lay people may know some of these.
A lot of them are good, but most lay people know NO sleights whatsoever and things like ACR are miracles to them and very professional looking.
You've probably had the same thing, where a lay person wants to show you a 'trick' that they know. I always let them peform it and comment on it in a postitive way, even if it's a real basic one. These effects are usually ones that involve counting and no sleights.

You can peform without any, but it depends what you define as a sleight really. Do key cards count as a kind of sleight?

For the record, my favourite card effects all use sleights of some kind. I don't use over-the-top aren't I clever knuckle-busters, but sleights that acheive the effect I want.

I'm not a fan of gaffs. the only gaff i own is the svengali.

i think it depends on the person. i like sleights more, i feel it's more "fun" i get more of a rush out of doing them, as i know i can get caught out, where as with a lot of gimmicked decks, the deck does the work for you, so you get a bit bored. i found this with the svengali, and i haven't bought a gimmicked deck since and don't intend to

monker59 wrote:You can only do certain tricks using sleights. If you never use sleights, you can only do about 1/4 of the magic tricks in the world.

Good point, it may even be less than a 1/4

Best thread I've read for a while guys , thanks.

I think the best thing about learning sligts is the way it naturaly engages you in the thought process of missdirection and trick structure without you realising. The practice required dissiplines you in a kind of magical meditation (sorry that sounds naff but hope you get what I mean).
Doing something with a borrowed deck, even just three or four tricks is a must in my opinion.
In fact even presentation has to be more focused with slights.
I would be willing to bet that in the main a magician who is practised in slights would present a non slight trick smoother than one who did not.

i used to use gaffs and gimmicks a lot when i was just starting out and some of them are very good and have become classics. i think there can be a level of one up manship in magic where someone who uses lots of gimmicks is seen as less of a magician. which i think is wrong, i think the most valuable aspects of magic is the way you perform it and that is what makes a great magician. however i do think that to limit yourself to just gimmicks and not try to become better at using a normal deck is limiting yourself and your abilities. and also you have that problem of if someone wants to see your cards it isn't always possible.

now i only use one set of gimmicks which is the ultimate 3 card monte i hid this in a normal deck and keep all my decks the same colour unless i want to do a "do as i do effect" that way for me i have more flow and a seemless routine.

in my humble little mind, sleights and gimmicks, misdirection etc. they are all EXACTLY the same thing, they are a way of making a trick work! from a magicians point of view i dont give a toss which one of them i use as long as the job gets done, and done well