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A 10 minute knock-out card routine, by Seige

Here's my little set, which packs really lightly. There's barely anything to carry!

First off, there's the need for an ice-breaker. I always find that there's two things to sort out when you first enter a room:

1: Get to know your audience
Assess straight away the amount of people you'll be performing to, their general 'vibe' and probably something most magi overlook - the ANGLES!
A lot of effects need certain angles to be able to perform. When you've got a table, you're fine, as you can command where you and others are placed. In a bar, for instance, there's very little in the way of seating arrangements, and table magic is generally ruled out - unless you've bought a pad!

2: Create an aura and introduce yourself
All credit to Jay Sankey for this advice (with some theatrical inspiration from Jeff McBride, and some thoughts from Derren Brown)

Dress slightly flamboyantly. Just enough to set you out from the crowd. Immediately, people should know that you're entertainment - not some psycho who's just escaped from the local asylum! Table hopping requires a lot of confidence - and your dress code will immediately show that you are a professional, paid for part of the entertainment.

Walk over to any group and introduce yourself:

"Hi, my name's Seige, and I've been asked to come and perform some magic for all of you tonight."

Immediately, you've established:
A: You're a magician
B: Your name
C: You're here at the instruction of the management, not to busk
D: You're confident
E: You're not just picking on people - you're here to entertain them


OK, as far as the act is concerned, I like to start with something that will show that I'm good at what I do. I usually open with something quite quick-paced, with lots of sleights and personality. This is usually an effect which involves no single person on a one-to-one, but rather treats your crowd as a whole.
Use a regular deck, and flourish, fan, riffle, cut etc. to show it's a real deck, and you're a real magician!

Then, move on to another quick paced effect, again with no singular participation (what I like to call a 'whole performance' routine, as opposed to an 'audience participation' routine).

Now, at this point (about 4 minutes in), you can start to assess and single-out members of the audience who will play-ball with you if you go one-on-one.

Now, drop in an audience participation routine - mentalism works well.

Now, you're at the 6 minute or so mark. Time flies when you're having fun! And that's the key - ENJOY IT!!!

OK, so they're now on your side. Time to show off a bit! Here's where I'd drop a really cool set of sleights into the routine. Just pure showmanship.

Time for the last killer-routine. This must be memorable. Time for an impossible card revelation! This is great in a pub situation, as there are so many places you can secrete a card for that spectacular effect!

Routine over... say:

"Well, time to move on, folks - I've got a lot of people to see tonight - maybe catch you later!"

And hopefully, they'll be begging for more!

Running order/suggested effects:

1: Ambitious card routine: 2-3 minutes of finding the cards. Can use lots of fans, riffles, shuffles. Really establishes credibility.

2: Colour Monte (or the more popular Gypsy Monte). Needs a deck switch, but no one will notice. If you're confident, go for NFW.

3: Andy Nyman's 'The Hidden'. Awesome mentalism - needs a spectator with wallet, watch and coin. Works every time and is almost impossible to explain.

4: Pull your regular deck back out and do the McClintock Twist routine... absolutely awesome. Can be finished off with another 'twisting' routine, even the one on the Ammar videos (the name of the effect escapes me - will check and edit this post) where a regular folded card VISIBLY turns over inside another folded card.

5: The final revelation effect needs to be REALLY strong. Go one-on-one perhaps and do a killer mentalism effect - pure mentalism. If you can confidently switch decks, swap out the regular deck you're now holding and use a one-way forcing deck. Derren Brown has a wonderful routine on the Devils Picturebook which uses a one-way deck, involving two spectators. The result is masterful.

OR - try Out of this World to finish

OR - use the favourite tapered-end-cut deck to do perform the Oil and Water effect.

Hope this helps! Sorry it's all card stuff - but it's what I do!
All you need to carry is two or three decks...

Yeah thanks, thats the kind of thing i need to do my table hopping succesfully.

Most of the tricks mentioned are card tricks is it possible to vary the type of magic or is it better to stick to one type i.e coin or card??

Thanks

Thanks, that's the type of thing i need for table hopping.
I noticed that most of the magic there was card magic. Is this good or should you vary the type of magic.
And also should you ask to borrow objects from them in your first few tricks. (will they trust you?)

Thanks

The variation of magic depends on the performance style.

My own style is very close-up magic - performed right under the spectators noses. Therefore, I tend to limit myself to coins, cards and small objects.

Street, stage and kid show magic is VERY varied, and for instance, some more subtle coin effects are wasted in stage performance.