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Recently I've been spending a lot of time practicing gambling/cheat style sleights. I'm not sure I want to go totally down this route but these kinds of routines remove one of the things I have trouble coping with which is giving my audience control of the cards and giving them the opportunity to screw things up.

My girlfriend is not at all magician friendly and may be part of my motivation for choosing to take this path. The last time I tried to show her something and had my stacked deck on the table for a moment she grabbed it and gave it a shuffle which totally ruined the effect. I think she expects real magic to take place. Anyway, although she is a difficult audience, last night I was asking her to check out my bottom deal and tell me how convincing it was and she said it was impossible to tell if i was dealing tops or bottoms. She also tells me my second deal is equally deceptive. So if I can fool her than I must be doing something right.

So at the moment I'm thinking of perusing this kind of area more. Is anyone else here into these kinds of routines and if they are do people find them entertaining or are they viewed as a show off routine? Magic seems to be about mystery and the performing harnessing a magic force whereas gambling routines are effectively you saying look how good I am. Not that I'm bothered about that as long as people find it entertaining.

My second question is can anyone recommend a good book on gambling routines?

This has been discussed twice VERY recently!

But, I do wish my bottom and second deal were as deceptive as yours sound.

Expert at the card table by S.W. Erdnase

Originally designed to help sheat, but I have been told that you can get a version with card tricks on the back, its one of those books I have on my wish list...aaah!

Try this link here:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic25377.php

Richard Turner specialises in these kind of routines. take a look at his dvds

I do perform gambling themed effects and routines quite often (that includes things like the bottom deal as well as effects such as "jazz aces" that I've changed to encompass a gambling patter), and I find that if you're not trying to look like: "Hey I'm so clever" then they can be very effective. Before I begin, I generally say something like:

"Hi, I'm James, and I'm going to show you that age is of no consequence at the card table".

This type of intro tells the audience that you're going to be doing gambling themed effects, but does not sound too cocky as to turn the audience against you or for them to perceive your act as a challenge for them to catch you out ( which is NOT what you want in any form of magic!).

Another "opening line" as it were would be something like:
" Hi, today I'm going to show you a sure fire way to win at cards. That of course is..... To cheat".


Something else I'd warn against doing in these type of routines is flourishes. I try to keep them down to an absolute minimum, as these are a sure fire way for you to be perceived a as a "smart a$$".

Hope this helps

I do perform gambling themed effects and routines quite often (that includes things like the bottom deal as well as effects such as "jazz aces" that I've changed to encompass a gambling patter), and I find that if you're not trying to look like: "Hey I'm so clever" then they can be very effective. Before I begin, I generally say something like:

"Hi, I'm James, and I'm going to show you that age is of no consequence at the card table".

This type of intro tells the audience that you're going to be doing gambling themed effects, but does not sound too cocky as to turn the audience against you or for them to perceive your act as a challenge for them to catch you out ( which is NOT what you want in any form of magic!).

Another "opening line" as it were would be something like:
" Hi, today I'm going to show you a sure fire way to win at cards. That of course is..... To cheat".
Here, the small joke helps get the audience on your side (which is always a good thing!)

Something else I'd warn against doing in these type of routines is flourishes. I try to keep them down to an absolute minimum, as these are a sure fire way for you to be perceived a as a "smart a$$".

Hope this helps

Also you said you had problems with crowd control, a false shuffle is helpful here.
Say you have a stack, just false shuffle (any method you want) and then do your trick.
Also close friends and family can be a pain to perform to!

Have a look at Sal Piacente's "Expert Card Magic Lecure Notes" (2 DVDs). He 's an excellent, excellent teacher how to present gambling routines. In addition, the DVDs also include heaps of jaw-dropping routines.

The take-home message I've learned from those two DVDs is: don't make it look too impossible! The audience will be much more impressed by your feat when you let them believe that it's pure skill what you are performing, and not some kind of cheat. Avoid fancy florishes! Look at Sal's Memorized deck on DVD No. 1, and you'll know what I mean.

The DVDs have been reviewed by Seige here:
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic3854.php&highlight=sal+piacente

Cheers,
Magnus

TheAlkhemist07 wrote:Also you said you had problems with crowd control, a false shuffle is helpful here.
Say you have a stack, just false shuffle (any method you want) and then do your trick.
Also close friends and family can be a pain to perform to!

I did some false shuffles and cuts but my girlfriend is not convinced by such things.

I would definitely second the Sal Piacente Lecture note dvds as they are are an excellent set.
Other people to look out for as far as gambling rouintes go are Darwin Ortiz and Martin A Nash.

Some Martin nash type material by the charming cheat himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZDGnH2wJSo

Java wrote:I did some false shuffles and cuts but my girlfriend is not convinced by such things.

Yeah friends, family and significant other halves then to want to examine everything inside out, back to front and do a full cavity search. Its probably one of the main reasons why I don't use gimmicks that much.

That does seem a bit harsh about wanting to shuffle the deck before hand. You need to be careful it doesn't turn into a game of who is smarter than who- that gets boring very quickly.

To answer you question you'd probably be best doing a deck switch where possible. Or do a multiple p**m if its few enough cards.

greedoniz wrote:I would definitely second the Sal Piacente Lecture note dvds as they are are an excellent set.
Other people to look out for as far as gambling rouintes go are Darwin Ortiz and Martin A Nash.

Some Martin nash type material by the charming cheat himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZDGnH2wJSo

I do have the Sal DVD. It's all excellent material. I'll check out the Darwin Ortiz and Martin Nash material. Thank you.

I know that most books written by Darwin Ortiz have pretty good gambling routines. I have his Cardshark book and to me best is The Sting

There are two virtually identical threads on this topic - and several more which have been deleted. Please, please only have one thread per topic, this one is now locked, please use to original one at ftopic45860.php