Do As I Do

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
El Mystico
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Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 16th, 2010, 3:00 pm

While I'm thinking of Martin Gardner...

What do you guys consider are the best versions of Do As I Do out there?

I know I know - "best" is subjective - depends on circumstances, audience, etc...but which do you use?

Silly Walter
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Silly Walter » January 21st, 2010, 6:25 pm

There is a version in Greater Magic by Dai Vernon that I still use. It is simple, direct and impossible. I think it is one of Dai Vernon's best creations in print yet I haven't really seen any magicians performing it. If you have the book, you should take a look at it and give it a try. It is very good.
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Mark.Lewis
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Mark.Lewis » January 21st, 2010, 10:05 pm

I use the standard one in the Royal Road to Card Magic. It is pretty hard to beat. Mind you Paul Curry had a good one that I occasionally use. I also use a one deck version which is described both by Harry Lorayne and Vernon/Ganson.

El Mystico
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 22nd, 2010, 12:14 pm

Thank you!
While I'm a huge Vernon fan, one difficulty I see with the Vernon method is that the magician chooses his card after the spectator. Which offers a (albeit false) solution to the trick.

The RR version is a standard and lovely one. (As is the related Domination of Thought, in GM, and Hugards's Encyclopedia).
I'll check out the Curry and Lorayne versions.

I'm interested in the multiple matching effects, such as Garcia's Three in a Million. I'm too inexperienced to know whether making three cards match is more impresssive - or if it just clouds the plot.

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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 22nd, 2010, 12:23 pm

Ah, Mark - the one deck Lorayne/Vernon version you refer to is the one using four of a kind? Yes, it is also nice.

Mark.Lewis
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Mark.Lewis » January 22nd, 2010, 12:34 pm

Yes. I forget what the hell it is called. Harry says he got the idea from someone called Ron Johnson (I think). It seems to be identical to the one described by Ganson. I have a vague memory of Harry saying there was some story behind it. Perhaps he showed it to Vernon first. You would have to ask Harry. I do know that it is a great version when you only have one deck with you. And yes. It does indeed use four of a kind.

I do use Vernon's method of reversing the bottom four cards by riffle shuffling to set the cards up.

I still think the best version is the standard one in the Royal Road. Some of the best card tricks in existence are self workers and this is one of them.

El Mystico
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 22nd, 2010, 3:20 pm

Yes, Harry says he showed it to Vernon and Vernon was apologetic when Harry reminded him.

Jim Maloney
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Jim Maloney » January 22nd, 2010, 4:49 pm

I assume Mark is referring to Four of a Kind from Inner Secrets of Card Magic and Aces Wild from Close-up Card Magic.

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Mark.Lewis
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Mark.Lewis » January 22nd, 2010, 7:54 pm

Yep. That's the one. I can never remember the title. It is a very good trick. I think Harry's description is better than Ganson's. I always marvel at the clarity of Harry's descriptions. Very often it is difficult to understand written instructions that are not written clearly. And to describe technical moves takes a special skill as I discovered when I wrote my own little books. It is not an easy thing at all.

I have always considered Ganson, Lorayne and Hugard the best magical writers of the twentieth century.

Bob Sanders
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Bob Sanders » January 25th, 2010, 12:35 pm

I think we all have used "Do as I Do" with cards. However, you know it is also done with Silk to Egg and it is an audience killer.

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Silly Walter
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Silly Walter » January 25th, 2010, 1:12 pm

El Mystico wrote:Thank you!
While I'm a huge Vernon fan, one difficulty I see with the Vernon method is that the magician chooses his card after the spectator. Which offers a (albeit false) solution to the trick.


Maybe I am being dense, but how so?
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El Mystico
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 25th, 2010, 1:15 pm

they may conclude that since you chose your card after they chose theirs, you somehow peeked theirs, then somehow chose yours to match.

Silly Walter
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Silly Walter » January 26th, 2010, 10:41 am

El Mystico wrote:they may conclude that since you chose your card after they chose theirs, you somehow peeked theirs, then somehow chose yours to match.


There are ways around this potential false solution. You can get this thought out of their mind through the presentation by emphasizing the conditions (you shuffled the deck, you selected the card when my back was turned, etc). I've been performing this routine for nearly 20 years and perhaps it is through good fortune but it has played quite strongly and no one has questioned the fairness of the selection.

Another great routine is in Darwin Ortiz's book "At The Card Table" and it is called "Do As I Did".
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El Mystico
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 26th, 2010, 12:18 pm

Yes; I recognise that since you use it, it can't be that flawed!
Interesting though that Vernon has an alternative method in the inneer Secrets book, which also avoids the swapping pack issue, but where the magician chooses his card first.

and yes, I'd forgotten about that, but Do as I Did is strong!

Silly Walter
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Silly Walter » January 26th, 2010, 12:52 pm

Swapping packs? I think we are talking about two different effects. I do know of a Do as I do where you swap packets but that's not the one I was thinking of.

The Vernon effect I am thinking of has a spectator shuffle a red deck and the performer shuffles a blue deck. the spectator cuts the deck until he is satisfied that there is no way anyone could know the identity of the top card. Spectator 1 places his top card onto the performers deck. The performer cuts the spectators card to the middle of the deck, which leaves a new top card for the performer. The performer places his top card on top of the spectator's deck and the spectator buries it by cutting the deck. Both decks are spread out to show there is a red backed card in the middle of the blue deck and there is a blue backed card in the middle of the red deck. Both cards are turned face up and they match.
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El Mystico
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 26th, 2010, 2:03 pm

Yes yes - you misunderstood me, but I can see why - I mean - like the one you refer to, the Inner Secrets version ALSO avoids the swapping packs!

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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Jonathan Townsend » January 26th, 2010, 2:36 pm

Silly Walter wrote:Swapping packs? I think we are talking about two different effects. I do know of a Do as I do where you swap packets but ...


Citations please.

"Do as I Did" - the trick from Darwin's first lecture long ago? Clever use of methods there. :)

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Re: Do As I Do

Postby El Mystico » January 26th, 2010, 5:23 pm

Citations of swapping packets?
The version in royal road and Domination of Thought spring to mind.

espermachine
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby espermachine » January 26th, 2010, 5:56 pm

There's an excellent single deck "Do As I Do" on one of the Michael Skinner performance-only tapes. Absolutely baffled me when I first saw it ... with no crediting on the DVD I had no luck tracking it down but eventually discovered it by accident published in Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic as one of Jay Ose's contributions.

A few months later I was reading The Secret Ways of Al Baker and it turns out the method was in fact Baker's, published decades before.

Justin Wheatley
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Justin Wheatley » January 27th, 2010, 2:07 am

You beat me to it, Espermachine.

I absolutely love the one-deck version by Ose. I had never seen anyone else use it, so I assumed it was just another overlooked gem. Great news that Mr Skinner got it out there.
That's interesting about Al Baker. Do you mean it's the same general principle? Or is it the exact same effect?

espermachine
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby espermachine » January 27th, 2010, 6:14 am

Justin,

It's the same principle and method. The only difference is the explanation - Ose goes into detail with what to do in the event of the performer holding four of a kind in his hand. This "out" was missing from Baker's original description in Magical Ways and Means and I have a feeling this omission may have put the average reader off - hence why it is so seldom seen.

If you haven't read The Secret Ways of Al Baker I highly recommend doing so. Consistently great material and it's interesting to discover how many of Baker's ideas have been forgotten and reinvented over the years.

Justin Wheatley
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Justin Wheatley » January 27th, 2010, 12:17 pm

Any time I've ever encountered Mr. Baker's material, such as in Tarbell, it is always a cut above most of the thinking. I intend to check out the Baker book.

Getting back to the Do As I Do discussion, there are two (I believe only two) interesting approaches in Expert Card Technique. If memory serves me right, one is called Contrary Do As I Do, which is sort of an odd twist on the original plot. And the other is called something like Do As I Do-new presentation." And that one involves a prediction.
I do remember enjoying them in the past, so I have little doubt they are good...

Pete McCabe
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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Pete McCabe » February 4th, 2010, 2:25 pm

I looked up the Vernon Greater Magic method at the Castle library last night and it's a lot of fun. A new member overheard me and pointed me to a Nick Trost creation in which, after the two cards are revealed to be the same, both decks are spread and all the cards are blank.

The method is, basically, to do the Vernon routine exactly as written, but with two decks of 51 blanks and a two of spades (or whatever) each. One of those clever creations where you get an entire additional effect with literally no extra work, like the version of Gemini Twins that uses a Rainbow Deck.

Trost's clever handling uses a short card in three different ways during the routine; since you're devoting two blank decks to this effect, why not gaff them up?

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Re: Do As I Do

Postby Denis Behr » February 4th, 2010, 2:47 pm

Justin Wheatley wrote:Getting back to the Do As I Do discussion, there are two (I believe only two) interesting approaches in Expert Card Technique.

Yes. Those and many other sources with one deck or two decks are listed HERE. There's also a chapter on the plot in the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, which is not fully in the database yet.


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