A) Too many people was following the blog, which was rather unexpected. I don’t want a large audience as I don’t believe the stuff I write here is good enough to be widely spread. I hate to debate 100 magicians!

B) The articles, I’m still refining them, adding here and here. I want to have a data base of articles so later I can post in a regular basis, for your viewing enjoyment.

With that, sorry for inconvenience.

This is mainly due to my college exams .. Sorry.

Now, I’m obviously in no way an authority on the move or something like that, but I do think I studied the move enough to give an educated, well written info on it. I look forward to discuss the following with anyone intrested.

Misconception 1: The Pass can be replaced with other sleights like the side steal.
Correction: No it cannot, as the pass is an invisible cut which is a totally different action that a single card steal ( side steals for example )

Misconception 2: The Pass is the best control.
Correction: Not true.

Its an established rule that there is no control better than other, it all depending on the trick you are performing, the construction of that particular trick. What the performer has to do is picking the control that fit the trick and make it “flow”.

To illustrate, 4 aces on top of the deck, and a break above the selection. How can you bring the selection on top of the aces? Side steal is better than the pass for this.

4 aces in middle of the deck, you have a break above them. How can you bring them to the top? The pass is the best option for this.

In many effects it doesn’t matter what the control you are using. In many cases I do the pass and follow it by a jog shuffle, this is just to practice doing the pass before a live audiance, like when you classic force every time you have a card selected.

Misconception 3: There is no need to perfect the pass, it can be done with misdirection.
Correction: Read below.
A good pass is a beautiful thing to see and a joy to watch. In Many effects that uses it, you just have to do it without misdirection. Example? New Cavorting Aces ( Kaufman’s DVD ), you color change with the darn thing.

Also, many magicians prefer to master the sleights they love and get them down cold, this includes doing the pass with no misdirection needed.

What some people don’t get is that simply saying “with misdirection”, they need to come up with natural misdirection that is so good that ALL spectators would take their eyes of the deck, you cannot accept that a single spectator is looking down on the deck because then she/he will see the pass. This remind us of the top change.

A top change is much simpler to do than the pass with misdirection, because you are holding the card in one hand, and deck in another, they both come on the deck in a split second, plus its easy to put in a natural action. In the pass, BOTH hands come to the deck and HOLD it, making it more tricky than mere top change. Simply executing the pass invisibly will make your life way easier, and make everything flow better.

If you find a top change that can be done without the need for misdirection, would you use it? ( there is such thing, Harry Lorayne’s Ultra move, or Max Milton’s One Handed top Change, whatever you want to call it! ).

Keep in mind that you still need to get the trick to flow. You don’t want to FOCUS all the attention on the deck, something like “as you can see the card is somewhere in the deck” and do the pass. The idea is “so your card is lost” as you look to their eyes, and do the pass. If someone is looking down, everything still looks good.

This is a point I want to address further. Burnable moves are great, but that doesn’t mean a spectator should burn them. This all comes down to your presentation and how you want the effect to look like.

 Generally, an effort is made to direct the spectator’s attention elsewhere as the sleight is excuted. ( there are excpetions, like when the external reality of the sleight is essential for the effect, e.g. double turnover-ing the card face up,  false shuffling in Triumph .. etc). In the pass, assuming the context of controlling a selection, the idea for me is to look at the spectator when I do the pass even though I know my pass is burnable. I look away because A) I don’t take chances, shit happens. B) This is how its supposed to look if I’m doing it ( closing the spread and continuing the presentation ), The only reason that comes to my mind, if I want to direct the attention to the deck at this point, is to emphsize the fairness of the prosedure, which is doesn’t add anything to most effects using the pass, if it did, I know I won’t be doing the pass here, if I HAVE to, due to the requirments of the routine, I’ll change the moment,  arranging for location method ( edge marking, locator cards .. etc ) then do the pass elsewhere.

Something I like doing, managing a  Fred Robinson pass: you can have 2 selections, on controlled to the top, and other is currently in middle with a crimp. Double turnover showing wrong card, table it, do the pass, the riffle acts as a magical gesture to make the tabled card change into the 1st selection. 2nd selection is now on top,  ready for your favorite color change. Harry Levine’s Revolution change ( TrapDoor mag ) flows well, or a top change ( Levine’s contributions in the mag is well worth studying too ), since the selection is on spectator’s hand ( if your doing this strolling ), take it,  do one of the moves mentioned above, and show the change/place it on other spectators hand, vioalla.

Misconception 4: For me, the Pass is just a showoff move at magic conventions.
Correction: Depending on the one using it. Why do you care if others use it for show off? Is just because the pass can be “showed off”, you dismiss it? I honestly don’t know how people arrive at such conclusions.

Misconception 5: There are no effects that are “pass-Dependant”.
Correction: Wrong. Many effects can only be done with the pass. Look into Kaufman’s DVD, all the effects need the pass as a cut. Roy Wolten and Jim Swain have alot of work on the subject as well. In fact, here is a list of the effects and principles I know of, where the pass is either cannot be replaced, or it is the most efficient solution.

- Euroaces ( spectator cuts and turns the aces ), Simply Harkey by David Harkey.
- Roy Wolten Passing at Red ( 3 free selections are odd colored among a packet of cards ), its on Royal Road to Card Magic DVD set by L&L, and on a Genii magazine issue.
- Cavorting Aces in Stars of Magic.
- All effects in Richard Kaufman’s DVD On the pass ( especially the excellent version of Everywhere Nowhere )
- Richard Kaufman’s CardWorks book, 3 effects that the pass is the way to achive the effect with the most magical appeal, 2 other effects where the pass will improve the routine to make it “flow”.
- Any book by Jim Swain.
- Suppose you have a break above 3 cards, how can you control them to the top? The pass is the single most direct option.
- Open Index principle ( memorized deck work ), the pass is most direct way to control the named card, a side steal can be used, but the pass is easier to get into since you are already fiddling with the deck too much, let alone the fact that a pass doesn’t affect the order of the deck as a side steal.
- Other items by Peter Duffie ( a deck turns into something like a prediction ) and Roy Wolten ( a trick called Autograph Hunter uses 3 passes to achive a very direct magical effect with appearantly no moves ).
- A VERY visual color change ( Ken Krenzel’s pass video, watching the pass is like watching a camera trick ).
- A very good control. – ‘Regal Aces’ by Darwin Ortiz which uses about 4 cover passes
- Last but not least, the original application, to restore a cut.

Misconception 6: The pass is just a “magical masturbation”
Correction: I’m assuming that the one who said this meant that many enjoy practicing it, but never do it.
the pass is a nice thing to do in the hands making it something very fun practicing it. No one can see anything wrong with that.

The concepts of the pass are extremely interesting to some magicians, so they study it. Some are interested with false deals, so they study their concepts too. Many others are intrested in the S.W.E shift, so they study it. No one can argue that this is a wrong thing to do. The cardman is intrested in something, he works on it.

Should we work on something knowing that we will never perform it? Of course, but only after we developed a solid base of sleights and routines, a good understanding of basic theory and a decent performing ability, to be able to perform well obviously. At any rate, some things you study only for “acadimic reasons” will serve you wel later onl one way or another.

Misconception 7: The Pass take years to practice.
Correction: It can take years to do well ( for me its 3 years, I’m no way near an expert either ), but a mentor will decrease the learning curve quite a bit. Anyway, don’t even think of it. Just practice, and time will fly by way faster than you think. For me, its like I learned the pass yesterday!

Misconception 8: An Invisible Pass doens’t exist, unless done with misdirection.
Correction: This is the kind of un-intellegent thinking that the likes of Vernon and Erdnase avoided. Erdnase clearly states that an invisible shift in terms on a card game is “yet to be invented“, he didn’t say that it can’t be done, yet showing that Erdnase is indeed someone who knows what he’s talking about.

The same can be applied to magic.

Many people base this opinion on their own experience with magicians. You can’t say something as a fact based on that. I will even say that today, invisible passes are excuted. I saw a clip of Steve Forte doing what seems to me the Luis Zingone Pass ( spelling ) of Expert Card Technique, which looks like taking a tabled deck that has just been cut then dealing. Peter Duffie does an extremely good Riffle Pass, Steve youell does his Mongrel and Rotation passes in an invisible fashion. Bill Klush is said to have an extremely good pass, a claim supported by someone who saw him demonstrating it ( I didn’t say “saw him doing it”, because he didn’t see anything! ). Richard Kaufman’s Half a Jiggle is facinating. Akira Fuji does excellent classic and cover passes as well. Ken Krenzel’s pass looks like trick photography in his VHS.

These are the living masters, don’t forget Vernon, Charlie Miller, Marlo, Gary Ouellet, Larry Jennings, Ross Bertram, Bruce Cervon and many others.

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With that all said, I enjoyed ( and still enjoy ) practicing the pass and performing it. Indeed, an action such as of transposing the packets is a very large one, and cardmen succeeded in working out many covers and methods for it. Thats one thing we can be credited for!

One intresting thing that the pass is no longer the “backbone of card conjuring”, as many of today’s performers don’t apply it to their magic ( e.g. Harry Lorayne, Daryl ). Indeed, a sign that our art is evolving.

Recently Roger Klouse is ill too .. Oh man, I hope he gets better.

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Over the years, magician were producing rabbits from a top hat. This is because the magic secrets, were closly guarded from anyone who wants them. Now, this is over.

Imagin, you take the top card, show it slowly, with no extra moves,, they sign it. You take their signed card, push it slowly, flush into the deck. They keep their eyes on the deck, they see NOTHING.

You, challenging all of them , tell them to take the top card, and they see their signed card staring at them on their face.

They believe, and you win.

This is The DL.

Hear what the masters say about it.
“The best trick I’ve seen!” – Al Pachino
“I wish I’ve known this trick when I started magic 20 years ago” – Robert De Nero, award winning magician
“Man … *smiles*” – Will Smith

Get this trick NOW, for a limited offer, get it with a brand new pencil ( Sharpies are sold seperatly ). All for just 45$.

For one week only, we’re throwing the breakless, no get-ready whatsover, doublelift, the one and only, Strike DL. Many people searched for years to find it, and praciticed for decades for this underground sleight. Only few know of its existance , and many know of its legend , and only exclusive magic circles gain access to it. Now, its YOURS, you’ll master it after 10 minutes.
Just for 50$ .

Here is a review, written by the street illusionist, Erdnase.

“I always thought that since an invisible pass is yet to be invented, and I always need the money, then the need arise from an effect that demands the cheat to trust his partner, I finally found it”

If you thought the above review is not enough ( or made just too much sense ), here is another, by the killer sleight of hand artist, DaMagicHitman123 ( forum member ):

“When I got this, I wasn’t sure of what I’m getting, is it a DVD? Is it a book with a DVD? Is it a DVD with a book? Finally, I got it, and all I can say is WOW.

What they are charging for this trick is a STEAL! I want this trick to be mine and mine alone, this is sooo good. Its really simple, but at it hearts resembles whats strong sleight of hand should be, its a very lethal weapon that I’ll add to my aresenal of killer stuff.

I love card magic that is pure, it raises our performances to such astronomical levels, and make us find the our inner selves as performing artists. Its all done, with only 50 bucks.

Forget about the pass, side steal, and all these useless things, this is the REAL work.

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———————————————-

Slydini’s Slide Out:

Tough move to get down, but its a wonderful control of a selected card to the top in the act of closing the fan. Its not Slydini’s fan steal, this one has way better angles ( almost 180 degrees ), but quite difficult to do. I won’t say difficult, but knacky, there is a certain feel to it. Its in Apocalypse magazine Book 1.

Harry Lorayne’s Ultimate Move:

I don’t think Harry put this in any of his books, its in his Apocalypse magazine, book2 ( recently reprinted, in case you missed the first edition ), vol.10, the cover item of one the issues. The move looks like if you are holding the deck with you’re left hand, you move a tabled card ( or cards ) from one place to another on the table, and you switch it. Its very verstile, since you can -say, move a card to place it under the card case, and you switch it in the proccess. Best thing is, you can do it on any surface ( unlike other switches where they difficult to do on surfaces like glass ).

Card Transfer:

A move in “Card Control” by Arthur Buckely, you place a card in the top quarter of the deck, you lift the top card and its the selection. Very neat, its in page 80 in the mentioned book.

The Illusive Transfer:

A move by Buckley in the same book “Card Control”. The order of the deck will be the same except the selection is brought on top ( i.e single card control ), but you actually move half the deck … Confusing eh? Its like a reverse cover pass ( if that makes any sense )

The Marlo Throw by Ed Marlo:

This was popular in the 80s and 70s ( I concluded this because its referred to in many books written in that era ). Its a way to throw double card from the deck to the table, and they land in perfect alignment. This is how Marlo goes into his Eiediatic ( spelling ) change, which now magicians butcher it by bad double-lifting of 2 cards, and putting them in crampy way on the table, to do the change. Indeed, Marlo’s fine technique is what makes him something very unique.

Paradise Concept by Gary Ouellet:

Its a way to false count/display cards whole holding the packet in a very fair manner. This makes you able to do an EXTREMLY convining Ascanio spread, an easier Jordan count, and an Elmsly count that can be done deceptivly while holding a thick packet of cards. Gary ( in his book Close up Illusions ) also explores the idea of tabling a double.

Semi-Circular Switch:

By Jon Racherbaumer, in Richard Kaufman’s first book ever, CardMagic. Its a tiny flourish appearing card switch, its neat.

SDL Color Change:

Thats Second Deal Lap color change by Gene Maze, in Kaufman’s CardMagic. What it appears like is the Vernon Thru-Fist flourish, though you do it to change a card. Obviously you have to be seated, consult the name to see why, very smooth though.

Twinkling Color Change:

This is a color change by Jeff Mcbride, and its very tricky to do. What it looks like, is that you produce a card with the Peit Forton Pop-out Move ( where a card appears as you cut the deck ), then do it again to change the produced card to another one. Really neat. Its in Apocalypse magazine book.2.

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Hope you liked these.

I will assume you familiar with 2 Card Monte, and you have performed it at least 3 or 4 times.

Now, you notice that you repeat generally the same talk ( or called, “patter” ) in every performance. Thats, my friend, is your talking.

Now, you know that you have to do the sleight needed at a specific moment, when that moment comes, you do it, to make you’re sleight invisible so they don’t catch you. Thats my friend, is doing

Yes, welcome to the sad (?) truth, you may say that you not scripted, but YOU ARE!!

Gee … scripting is so easy that you even didn’t think that you’re doing it! The only difference between you, and someone who sat down and thought of script, is that he planned while he was not performing. You just had to prepare something in your first performance, in other words, while you are performing!!

Imagine that you have no idea when to perform the sleight, you will struggle to do it, you will think alot, and you will shake. Thats why YOU scripted it, by thinking “I’ll just do it at that moment” and now you do it!

By the way, how many times did you perform the trick to yourself while you’re practicing? Thats rehearsing!

Are we clear on whats scripting is? I hope so.

Preparing a script:
No, you don’t have to write it down. Hope this will make you feel better.

Another thing, you don’t have to prepare one. They are ready for you to use!

Many times the trick comes with its script ready for you to use ( like in DVDs you see the performances, or a book you read the patter). In fact, if you learned 2 Card Monte, you didn’t plan the moment where the sleight is done, the creator/teacher did, thats the script ready for you!

Why would I change it then? Because you didn’t like it! Suppose the trick talks about battle between orcs and aliens, you might not like that ( unless its you’re thing! ). You will notice that this will happen more and more as you go into magic, as you will develop a “style”. For example, you might go for psychological things, or go for comedy things, and so forth. Don’t force this on yourself, this will happen automatically.

Same thing when you want to develop you’re own script of a trick! This will be very hard at first, because you are inexperienced! The more you read/watch as you go in magic, the more ideas you will get, and the more scripts you can make! For example, you watched an effect by the gambling expert Darwin Ortiz, where he does the pass at a very good moment. You can take his idea, and put it in the moment where you do the sleight in 2 Card monte! You might want to apply the idea of “oil and water” into Ambitious Card Routines! As you go on, you’ll get more and more ideas.

Preparing a script, cont.:
There are many ways to prepare a script. One way is to think of it, and then perform the trick to yourself. I do this many times.

Other way is to write it down, I personally do this quite often for couple of reasons, and I want to share them with you. Lets go over these before we go into how to write a script easily.
1- English is not my mother tongue, so I have to translate if I want to use the script that comes with the trick.
2- I forget my scripts due to my busy college life. Sometimes I forget a very important line, and sometimes the whole script ( if its been a long time since I performed the trick! ), this helps me remember.
3- Editing:
A)I can take out any unneeded words! Like for example, I can write “Cards will switch places, from here, to there. they will switch places, are you ready?”. If I write that, it will be easy to see that I said “they will switch places” more than once, which is unneeded, so you throw this “line” away. Sometimes,
B) I can add lines! Like when you perform a trick and a spectator said a joke. You might like it, so you add it, and so forth.

Now, how to easily write a script? I find it extremely difficult just to sit down and write word for word, and I don’t think anyone in this word is doing this because this is painfully silly. What would you do is to imagine yourself, at the best performing situation possible. You are with the perfect spectators who react very well, you are doing perfect moves, you are very active and playful. Now, imagine you’re performance, and write it down! You may write it as you’re thinking, you may write it after you end the “mental performance”, its up to you. This is actually how writers write their novels.
Now, I would say this. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, try the writing method as well as the thinking one, or whatever you fancy. Point is, try all methods, and see what fits you. Personally, I had trouble scripting with writing when I started out, but then after I got into magic more, I read Card College and the author said to try it out, so I did and now its my main thing, though I still think many times. Point is, try out everything, and see what works for you.

Also, note that if you have low performing experience, preparing a script ( writing or thinking or whatever ) will be difficult, because you don’t know what to expect during a performance. But hey, if you’re a beginner, why preparing a script?!!!! Just use the one in the DVD/book!! You may be excited to do you’re own presentation of a trick, but c’mon, get some experience first!

Memorizing a script:
Now you might think you need to memorize the script word for word. Well, yes. BUT WAIT WAIT WAIT, its not as difficult as it might seem!!

You are not sitting down and memorizing “the cell is: The single unit that forms the human body”. Here is what I do, especially if I’m writing a script.

I write it, then I read it, then I perform it for myself! Its that simple. After the first “performance”, I see what did I miss, I say “Oh I said “switched twice two times, not as I wanted in my script”", so now do it again with fixing this mistake! See? You DON’T sit down and memorize, you just “memorize by doing”, not “memorize by sitting down and say it over and over again in your head”. This actually will take you couple of minutes to get the script down!! These “performances” are called Rehearsals, by the way.

Now, at the end, rehease the effect and when you feel you’re good to go, you need to perform!

DO NOTE that you might want to put the “doing” script in written form as well. My script goes like this:

“I want you to memroize the forth card … Okey, this is the one, did you get it *”look and pass*“. and so forth. This actually an abberviation in my notes. I meant “look at them and do the pass”

Performing the script:
Now you got down the script, forget it!!!

No seriously, when you start to perform, act casual, no need to be robotic, at you’re own pace, be calm, be natural, you know the words and can deliver them EASILY ( you won’t believe me till you try it!! ), if a spectator threw in a joke, play with him. Remember, a script is just the main road to the end, you can divate from it as the moment dictates ( play with the spectator, throw in a joke, comment on something, or take an chance that the spectator might know something about your presentation, like in lie detection, so you talk with him a bit… etc! ), but you can return to the part of the script you want EASILY ( again, you will only appreciate this when you try it ),. now everything flows, and you performed well.

Also, please don’t perform for yourself, like telling a story while the spectator is about to sleep! Always keep in mind that the spectator is not that technical part of the trick where you now perform it, but its the phase where you play with her/him, and provide her/him with her/his moment of astonishment.

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FAQ:

1- Is a scripted performance, a good one?
Not necessarily. People don’t care if you script or not or whatever. If you’re script is bad, the performance is bad. You wrote a script and all, but they care about the perofrmance itself, not the fact that you scripted or not.

2- Huh?
Suppose you presented how Lord of Destruction will cut through the deck and comes to the top. You’re doing an ambtious card routine, you wrote you’re script and rehearsed it, but its bad, because the script itself is bad.

3- Are scripts supposed to be long?
Not at all! For you’re talking, a simple “watch” will do, the rest is how you present the trick with your “doing”, or in other words, acting, like in E’s Mindbender trick, you move you’re finger on the card .. etc.

4- How can I know that my script is bad?
A) If you think its bad.
B) Sometimes you think its good, but you’re magic friends think its bad. Ask them why, and on how to improve it.
C) Sometimes we magicians think of something as great, but to laymen, they think its average, so the best feedback you can get is from you’re audience. If they didn’t like it, ask yourself why, you might want to try another script, or to give it another shot, its up to you to judge.

5- Can I use other’s scripts and presentations?
Absolutely. Jay Sankey’s presentation of Triumph is excellent ( Back in Time ), you can check his effect. Magicians have been using Dai Vernon’s presentation of his triumph for many many years ( where a heckler shuffles the deck up and down ). Its always nice, however, to ask a permission. In other words, buy the DVD or the book, or ask the magician himself to use his/her presentation.

6- Won’t I be a copy cat?
Not at all. From my experience, people need to work in order to be copy cats, just be yourself, you’ll save yourself alot of trouble. Oh, and still yes, you can use other’s presentations. Don’t even think of this, never force or limit yourself to something, you’re style and originality will find you, you just perform and have fun.

7- i can’t get any ideas for presentations, WHY!
You’re just inexperienced. As you go in magic more and more, you’ll have more ideas. A tip would be to start of thinking of a “theme”, like do you want it as a gambling demonstration? Mental experiment? psychology? .. etc and you go from there.

8- How can I make good magic presentations?
As you get into magic more and more, you’ll get to read advices from various great magicians. You’ll be introduced to the idea of being natural and the reason behind doing the moves ( Read Dai Vernon’s books on that ), you’ll develop more sense of misdirection that you can add into you’re presentation to make you’re sleights more invisible ( Sydini’s work on this is superb ). Watch good magicians perform, youtube is such a wonderful tool if used wisely. See performances of Darwin Ortiz, Tommy Wonder, Jay Sankey, Bill Malone and many others. See how he executes his sleights invisibly, read their ideas in their books or DVDs ( Strong Magic by Ortiz is excellent. If you want to go a little bit deep into the subject of theater, Jay Sankey has alot of great articles on this in his book Beyond Secrets ). Read magic theory ( Eugene Burger ), this will make you appreciate magic more and inspire you, and will improve your performances. ( many points from the “Performing the Script” was from Eugene’s Burger’s almost same words )

9- Should my script be good the first time I do it?
Hell no, actually how can you know its good before you try it out! You may think its good, but try it out and make it better! Nothing wrong with making bad scripts at first either, just do a “draft”, and perform, edit you’re script the way you see fit then. Plus, it will take some experience on your part to be able to prepare a script thats good from the first time! Make mistakes and learn from them!

10- Should I buy none-magic related books, like on public speaking, body language, theater and so forth?
Its up to you, but its not necessary ( especially in close up magic ), only if you’re interested. Lets say for example that you want to perform for a lot of people, or on stage, but you don’t know or never dealt with a big audience before. Public speaking can be helpful ( they have good advices like you should look at every spectator, avoid speaking with the same tone .. etc ). If you want to work out some misdirection, you might be interested in none-verbal communication books, I personally bought two but only learned stuff I use in my every day life, that indirectly helped my magic, like when a spectator is putting his elbows on his knees, I know that he’s feeling bored so I interact with him more, and so forth, but in misdirection, not much. Point is, as you go on in magic, you may develop intrest in these kind of stuff or just develop you’re own thoughts on the subject ( this is especially true for misdirection ) and put things together on your own. You will notice that you can improve yourself at a certain field, and then you do something about it. If don’t find anything wrong now, just learn more magic and perform! Theater books can be interesting, but you will find difficulty relating them to magic unless you have more experience, then you need to think more on how to apply it in magic. That is if you are already interested, many magicians just read the works of other magicians in the field, and since its more strongly related, adding that they put their experience too, then it will help you alot more.

Anyways, I suggest Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms, which teaches theatrical techniques and how to apply them in magic ( like building up suspense .. etc ), since it teaches it in a very simple and good to read way ( putting tricks as examples too ). Only get these when you have enough performing experience so you can understand it!

11- How much time should I put into script/rehearsal of a trick?
This is also up to you and the trick you’re doing. If you’re a beginner, you may rehearse until you feel you can do the trick well ( after you can do the technical part of the trick well! You don’t have to master it, you’re still a beginner! ), have an idea on what you’re talking about ( in other words, prepare a draft of the script only, in you’re head of notebook or whatever you like, or BETTER YET, take it from the book/DVD! ), and go perform. As you go on in magic, you will notice that you will rehearse for more time, because you’re standards of a performance will go up ( stage magicians may rehearse an act for days or months! ). Also, learn 4 or 5 tricks that uses the same sleight, read the patter in the book/DVD, perform it for yourself till you feel you’re good to go (this sometimes takes minutes only ), and go perform it. Remember: The most important thing in magic is to perform, because this is the BEST way to practice moves ( mastering a move comes from practicing AND PERFORMING it!! ) and BEST way to practice how to present a trick! Also, you’re excited to perform, dude I’m not stopping you, go get ‘em!

12- But the guys told me to pick a few tricks and do them better than anyone else ..
Its impossible for a beginner to master a few tricks, and do them better than anyone else. I think this is actually a wrong thing to do, and many will come here with the misunderstood Devant quote of ameature vs Devant. Please, go read Hugard’s introduction in the Royal Road to Card Magic book. He clearly say that the student should try out and learn everything, but in continous performing, he’ll find that he like some tricks more than others, THESE tricks are the ones he’ll continue performing, and thus will be good at them. Besides that, doing a trick well requires a good understanding of presentation and showsmanship, which a beginner cannot understand and dont need, simply because he don’t have enough performing experience, WHICH IS THE THING that needs to be focused on!!

My suggestion?
Open Royal Road ( or Card College ), start with the overhand shuffle control, practice it until you can do it comfortably ( might take hours, might take weeks! ). Next, read the overhand shuffle tricks, and try to do them well enough, which is easy because you already do the required sleight well. Perform the ones you like ( even better, perform them all ). This way you perform, and you get the joy of performing, which will motivate you to practice and learn more tricks and sleights.

Open the glide, practice it till you can do it comfortably, then learn all the tricks in it. Try to perform them all, then move on the next, and so forth.

Learning one or two trick is simply none-sense for a beginner, not only you are killing his excitement, but limiting his performing experience WHICH HE NEEDS MOST at this stage. And what actually makes Royal Road and Card College so good that it makes it easy for a beginner to be good at alot of tricks in a comfortable way. You become good at the tricks because you became good at the sleight needed( NOT MASTER, as this will only come with Experience, which the beginner don’t have ).

Again, try to learn every trick in the book, this is how you will grasp an understanding on card magic works ( math-magic, card principles .. etc ). Simply learning 3 or 5, or even 12 is simply killing the purpose of the book.

The David Devant quote of “ameatuer does 100 tricks, Devant does 8″, is because Devant’s long experience, he performed alot of tricks, but he settled on 8 that he liked and saw that they get the most reactions, he settled on them. Devant is NOT a beginner. A beginner NEEDS TO PERFORM, and this won’t happen unless he feels that he got enough tricks under his belt.
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Hope this helps. I sincerely hope that this thread will be a reference for anyone who asks on the subject.

Scripting and making presentations can be a VERY enjoyable thing, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

“It takes a lot of hard work to make it seem like you are not working at all.”

This was in a magic forum, a member called zoraxe , This was my introduction into the world of being natural ( school of Vernon ).

“Often, when asked to describe their grip, they are at a complete loss for words and summarize by saying, “Just place the deck in your left hand and deal.” Excellent advice, but difficult to follow”

This was written in Jean Hugard, at the introduction of False Deals chapter in Expert Card Technique. What I like about this is the concept of practicing sleights, then forgetting them, in other words, let the hands do the sleight while you’re thinking of something else, like the trick you are doing to the spectator. This elcites smoothness and “nonchalance’” in your card work, which is obviously good. By the way, this was brought to my attention in Jay Sankey’s excellent book, Beyond Secrets.

Like many other descriptions of sleights, the author either did not know the true intricacies or carelessly omitted including them, and it is just such things that distinguish a Daley, a Vernon and a Cardini from the common exponent of card butchery.

So this was written in Arther Buckley‘s book Card control, in his description of Side Steal. He talks on how some authors describe the side steal, while they don’t provide the details, which means that they are not familiar with the details in first place. Such details makes moves done masterfully in the hands of the above mentioned masters.

The real illusion of card magic begins with the conviction on the part of the spectator that his card is lost among others. Without this conviction the trick has already failed.

In the introduction of Royal Road to card magic, Jean Hugard wrote whats above. Very neat.

It’s been said many times that if you want to hide a good trick, you should put it in print.

Said by Fred Braue when he published the first and original Homing Card ( made popular by Fred Kaps ) in his booklet ShowStoppers with Cards. This applies to sleights too obviously. Harry Lorayne’s Ultimate Move is an easy, verstile move to switch a card ( Apoclpse magazine vol.10, book 2 ), Slydini’s Slide Out move is one damn good control for a selected card to the top. You insert the card, you close it and its done! ( its different from his fan steal ) this was a cover item for Apoclypse magazine vol.3 I think, book 1. Abacus is one damn good mental card trick by Max Maven, only full deck stack trick I use so far ( besides memorized deck work )! Also in Apoclypse magazine book 1 vol.2 I think. Hurricane Change by Harry Lavine was first seen performed in video in the movie Shade’s introduction, the change plus an extremly good routine were published in Trapdoor magazine.

There quotes should be enough for part 1. Hope you enjoy it.