talkmagic.co.uk

Recently, I've been practicing a routine from RRTCM, which I have now set up as follows:

An ace cutting routine (one that I made up- I say made up-haven't seen anyone else do it before)
A poker deal
"good luck card"
3 cards across

My question is "should I spin a poker/gambling type patter through this routine? I'm not asking for ideas, just wandering if you think that it would be credible that a 16 year old is talking about poker theories, bottom dealing etc. I have played around with different patters (talking about theories from books and bottom dealing etc, telling a story about a gambler who conquered Vegas and a non-gambling theme) and am comfortable with all 3 (they all seem to "fit" my personality). I'm just wandering which one do you think I should go for?

The "classic" answer to that is that if you are presenting an effect as 'magic' you shouldn't use a gambling-themed patter as it is less about the magic and focusses more on sleight of hand. In other words, by presenting an effect with a gambling patter you are proving the explanation that you 'have practised a lot' or 'are good at sleight of hand'. That's not necessarily my opinion though - I'm inclined to think that a clean enough routine can pretty much rule out most of the 'sleight' claims.

Kati

I think that with a gambling routine, you should probably mention only sleights you won't do, then prove that you aren't doing them. This makes people watch out for one move, while doing another, i.e. talk about a top switch, but instead do a DL. Or something like that.

I'd say work on both routines and then pick and choose for your specific audiences.

which one do you enjoy performing the most? which one do the specs enjoy the most? Try out all three and see which one seems to work best for you.