talkmagic.co.uk

Hi all,

Just a little background info for the curious - I'm a 22 year old university student from the states, and I just caught the magic bug like you wouldn't believe, partially due to walking through a magic shop in disneyland and seeing the mental photography routine.

I bought the deck, but am having a bit of trouble with it. (correct me if I'm giving too much away) I understand that holding it one way lets you cut to a face, while holding another lets you cut to a blank. The problem is that it only works about 3 out of 5 times for me. I inevitably get a face when I want to cut to a blank or visa versa. I've been cutting using the top and bottom of the deck and tapping the deck on the table every so often, so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I'll pm you.

When you go to cut, instead of doing a cut straight off, do a small riffle first.

(a riffle being where you run your thumb down the deck)

this will ensure that you will always get the cut you need

Small riffle first is the way to go, also practice.

I like the riffle not only because it will help with your problem but it adds to my routine. Here is one of the routines I use with the deck.

I start out showing the deck as normal I keep cutting showing backs and faces as I talk about how poweful thoughts can be. Especially with magic because after all the magic does not happen in the magicians hands, it does not happen with a prop, a coin, a card. No, magic only happens in the mind. Sometimes while I play with a deck of cards and I'm not thinking about anything and look what happens, (cut, show a blank, another cut another blank, show backs and fronts) Now, when I think of a card say the 3 of hearts, the 3 of hearts appears, (cut and show three of hearts) or the four of diamonds (cut show four of diamonds) in fact if I think of all the cards they all appear, (cut a few more times showing more cards front and back)...

I know what card is going to appear because if you give a small riffle you can casually look down at the edge of the deck you are riffling (bottom towards yourself) and stop when you see a card and cut at that point. Not only are you guaranteed not to cut to a blank, you know at what card you stopped at.

Practice a little you will see it all fall into place.

Where are you in the States, there are a lot of magic clubs around, and many universities also have a magic club. Some places have both.

I'm at UC Irvine in california. And though I'd love to check out any local magic clubs, engineering classes + work take up way too much of my time to do anything on a regular basis.

Is there anything else I can do besides a riffle? I've been practicing with it and it seems to work about 9/10 of the time so far, which is quite an improvement. It does, however, seem a little awkward and suspicious that I do that motion before every cut.

Also, my mental photography set didn't come with instructions how to call your cuts like that (I got mine from Houdini magic at Disneyland). Is there somewhere you can point me to where I can find out how to do that with this deck?

It is just a knack of HOW you cut the cards. Think about how the deck is made. You want to cut to the short card, so you kinda need to make the cards a tiny bit concave, with some pressure between the thumb and middle finger of the hand you are cutting with.

I don't believe riffling is the solution you are looking for.

Also, bear in mind you will have been sold a 12 cent deck of cards for 10 bucks. If you really like the effect, might also help to buy a well made MP deck from a magic dealer.

Casually tap one of the short ends on the table/surface during your patter. Doing so will make best use of the S&L principle.

You bought your deck from a tourist trap and thus the deck may not be of the best quality. If the deck is made up of Bicycle cards then you are generally speaking good to go.

If you enjoy the concept and handling of a S&L deck then you will want to purchase a Svengali and Mene Tekel as well. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Gravatt and Hugard has sections on both the Svengali and Mene Tekel as well as other gimmicks and gaffes. Perhaps more importantly the book also covers sleights, shuffles/cuts, systems, etc. for use with an ordinary deck of cards.

No, you will not find my version in the instructions, I made my version up on my own, which is why it is my version. Anybody however is welcome to use it.

If you did buy a cheap deck then that may be part of the problem. If you have improved because you keep performing or practicing then perhaps more practice is in order.

If you are going for the riffle then you have to establish that into your presentation otherwise yes it is going to look rather odd. In my hands any deck is in constant motion so a little riffle before a cut is not a problem.

So, what have you got. Did you buy a cheap deck? If so get a better one. Riffle first not working for you, practice more. Still can't get it to work, change your patter so if you miss you can cover with a story line.

Tourist trap though it may be, I at least made sure they were bicycle backed.

Thus far, I guess I'm going to stick with the riffle and just start moving the deck more as suggested, until I get a better feel for the S&L handling.

And although I enjoy the gimmick and wow factor of this deck, I'm currently also branching out to try some other things. I just bought a dime and penny set from royal, and a stripper deck. But more importantly, I also bought Modern Coin Magic form JB Bobo and am looking into some regular deck tricks like Triumph. Svengali always seemed a little boring to me since everyone knows about it (even I knew before I got into magic).

And this may be a little off topic, but is coin palming something that everyone can do? Or do you need a specific size/type of hand to do it? Most of the magicians I've seen can palm a coin with their hands almost entirely flat, while the best palm I've been able to do all week leaves my hand cupped (like when I try a french drop).

Pm'd you. sorting it out now for you

I recommend following Michael Jay's "course", for lack of better term, in conjunction with BoBo's. You can find the thread here:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic19167.php

Your hand looks cupped, cramped and unnatural when palming because you just started. With practice you will learn to better conceal and just as importantly misdirect. As for hand size, as long as your hand is bigger than the object then there is a way to conceal it.

If the average Joe Blow knows that you are using a Svengali then you are doing it wrong.

USPCC/Bicycle printed their own run on Stripper decks and are the best on the market as far as side stripped goes. Their packaging looks like this:



There is a Stripper section in the aforementioned Encyclopedia of Card Tricks.

Do you walk around with your hands flat? If not why try to make them flat while palming? Wouldn't that look silly? And anyone can palm, it takes practice. Start with a finger palm if impatient and work on the classic palm when not performing.

It is quite similar to the svengali deck. I am assuming your deck has one card cut shorter than the other. Not all of these decks do. If yours doesn't the riffle won't do you much good.

Incidentally in the UK the deck is known as the Nudist Deck. By me announcing this you might get more help from those of who do not speak American.

Let us assume that the deck has one card shorter than the other and that there is a sequence of this throughout the deck with a long card then a short card alternating throughout the deck.

It is essential that before you cut the deck you tap one narrow edge on the table to settle the short cards. Now when you do the small riffle move you will hear a little click when you stop to cut the cards. If you hear this click that means you are doing it right.

If you don't hear the click perhaps you may wish to consider taking up stamp collecting instead.

Thanks to everyone who posted. Magicj and I have worked it out on pm, and the solution to use a swing cut has been working flawlessly so far.

The bobo thread is quite interesting, and I very much appreciate the program study guide. Reading the book cover to cover would've been quite the feat otherwise.

Are there any suggestions in books/dvds to look over for card handling? I'd like to get a grasp of the major card sleights I'd need before I even attempt my ultimate goal of learning Triumph.

In addition to Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, I also recommend the Bible of card magic, Royal Road to Card Magic. Personally I chose to take the route of using the book along side the DVDs. There are two (at least) multi-DVD sets out dedicated to the book- one as presented by Rudy Hunter and one by R. Paul Wilson. The vast majority here will poo poo the Rudy version and praise the Wilson version. I have both and, IMO, both are worth having simply because each man is stronger in different areas. Both sets are straight to the point with little BS filler. Both also have easy to use menus. If I had to pick one over the other, I would go with Rudy's.



A DVD only issue that many seem to like is Oz Pearlman's Born to Perform: