by magic_evmeister » Feb 11th, '06, 00:41
That's a very nice (and very dramatic) way to do the trick Larry. I like this version as (although it didn't come out well on the video) the card magically appears between the two aces above the deck.
For an actual spectator I go through and find the aces (or often I'll let them name any pair they like, depending on how many signed cards are already in my deck) and ask someone to hold on to them. Go through and show them a load of cards and get them to pick one they like (I don't worry about space to write on it, they'll see their signature on it whether it's a jack or a three). Then go on to do the James-Ellis Move, which is much easier, and requires no misdirection compared to the sleight sequence used in the original Ellusionist tutorial. For these reasons I much prefer it.
When I do the revelation I always have the aces face up so that their card is face down because I want there to be some doubt over whether it's actually their card. I performed this for someone at work tonight, and she's wise to alot of my card tricks, but she normally plays along anyway and tries not to mess it up for anyone watching even if she spotted my DL or whatever. However, tonight she didn't wanna take the card to start with until I asked her to 'cause I could tell she thought "I bet that's not my card and he's gonna secretly switch it." She looked so amazed when she pulled the card out herself and it was her signed card.
I don't like the ellusionist video performance where he has the spectator hold the deck face up. In this the aces are face up, the deck is face up with your card lost inside. If you somehow were able to make it magically appear between the two aces, why the hell would it be upside down to the rest of the cards. Maybe there's a good reason for this, but it's part of the presentation I personally don't like, so I don't do it.