name one, only one!!!

[Ravi]

Many of you may have the same problem. we can`t stop looking for new tricks, hoping to find THE ONE, the best one.I`m not saying that this is right!!! Maybe we should look for the old tricks instead.Wasn`t it Vernon who said:Try to
perform one trick better than anyone else.So, if you could perform ONLY ONE card or coin trick, which one would it be? :confused:

[Guest]

I would love to master the Ramsay Three coins and hat, I can do most of it with some minor level of not looking like a fool but the opening few sequences are just killers.

Noah Levine

[Ravi]

if somebody would have to decide if to book you or not, would that be the effect, you would show this person? :confused:

[Ravi]

to make the problem a little clearer:Just imagine having only time for one trick to perform for someone. After this, there should be no open questions, no begging for another trick. Is there one card or coin trick that transmits your magical thinking perfectly, one trick after you don`t have to perform another one. If you should perform one trick for a person who intends to book you, which trick would you perform?

[Pete Biro]

Coin trick?

The copper/silver taught to me by Francis Carlyle using a Silver Dollar, a regular penny and the Jumbo Penny finish.

Card trick?

If I had a shuffling surface... Vernon's Triumph, if no surface BWAVE.

This is based on audience reactions over the years.

However, since you asked for only card or coin tricks I have left out the best close-uup trick I have ever done (for 30+ years thatr beats ANY card or coin trick.

I ain't gonna tell what it is, I don't want anybody else jumping on it... ask Jeff McBride about the trick... I did it for him on the sidewalk in Santa Monica. :D

[Ravi]

Thank you Pete. How can I get Jeff Mc Bride to Germany within the next minutes (THAT would be a great effect!) to ask him? :D

[Ravi]

PS:
It is interesting . Whenever I discuss this topic with other Magicians, old or young, they decide for the classic tricks.So muich is published but at the end...
BWave is a good idea.

[Pete Biro]

OK OK... cuz nobodty will ever do it the way I do...

IMHO one of the greatest all time close up tricks is the Edward Victor Bat trick.

Taught to me by Alan Alan, in Harry Stanley's Unique Studio, London.

:cool:

[Guest]

The premise of "I only have 3minutes and twenty six seconds to perform" is quite common for performers that make guest appearances on television. They give you relatively short time spans to do anything and you have no chance to build any rapore with your host or audience. As a mentalist, it compunds one's task as you have a very limited amount of time to establish what you do.

A book test and a design duplication is the first thing that comes to mind but PK type effects (objects moving, bending, or manipulated. It's Paranormal is a good example of a perfect effect for this), The Borodin Locket (using either Borodin's routine or a modified version of the Koran Medallion), or certain card effects like Kollosal Killer would work well.

I have a few other ideas that I would use myself but are my own signature effects with some of them specifically designed to be used for such spots. The point is that you have very little time to establish one's self and often it is to promote your appearance somewhere. You can't just pull anything off the shelf to perform but instead must chose very carefully. While the classics may be just that, they do not necessarily establish you as a "unique" performer which IS the case as far as the public is concerned. The last thing you want them to think is that you are just another act like the last ones they saw.

PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.mindguy.com

[Ravi]

a wonderful comment, thank you very much. If I were a mentalist, I would certainly do the Swami Gimmick Trick by John Carney. Combining Mental effect, a great flourish AND a killer Close up effect, it would be "Sybil the trick" by Chris Kenner. The ywon`t ask for another trick, definitely.
Or the center Tear. :rolleyes:

[Thomas Van Aken]

I agree with Pete Biro:
Triumph is definitly one of the best card effect:
Peoples do not think "how did he that?" but "that's impossible".
To answer rjp question: I would perform Vernon's three balls routine (another classic):
It include apparitions, transportations and disparitions: a complete act.
My two (euro)cents
Thomas

[Guest]

If I had only one trick to do (which happens more than not when doing bar magic) I'd have to go with my ambitious signed card to color change kicker.

In fact, I usually don't do another card trick after that effect because it's pretty tough to top. Hands on by the spectator, visual and has a great color change kicker that also happens in their hands... sponge balls please.

[Guest]

I misunderstood your question, probably sponge balls.

Noah Levine

[Bill Duncan]

With a sportcoat or jacket, Larry Jennings' "The Mystery Card". Without... Daryl's "Out Of Body Experiance"

Unless the person is a smoker in which case, hands down, it's Eugene Burger's "Voodoo".

"Say, you wanna see something really scary?"

[Ravi]

Thank you! What happens in the tricks , you describe? :confused:

[Ben Harris]

Cosmosis: the Original Floating Match.

This is my "one card trick" choice. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a card trick (it just uses a card as an incidental object).

Or, Zoom. If I've met the client previously and secured their business card on the first occasion, then I'll switch it in on the second meeting and apparently animate the just borrowed card.

Both these effects have secured very lucrative gigs for me.

Cheers

Ben

[Ravi]

thank you Ben. :)

[walkinoats]

rjp,

where can i find the John Carney Swami Gimmick Trick? Is it in one of his books?

thanks,

[Ravi]

"Wired" by John Carney ,from his excellent book "Carneycopia". Don`t exspect the holy grail but the story, the handling, make it a miracle. And most important: it`s overlooked by most readers.
(Big mistake to overlook anything by Carney ;) )

[Jon Allen]

If I only had 60 seconds to do a trick for someone, I would do Double Back. It is quick, clean and very visual with a kicker ending that really does knock people sideways!

It brings up the idea of the hand being quicker than the eye and other such magical myths.

Would it be the trick I would do to get myself booked......yes! (well, one of them)

Regards,

Jon

[Pepka]

If there's a table, and I'm limited to one trick-Play it Straight Triumph by Bannon. People actually scream at this one.

If no table, Ambitious Card.
Pepka

[Guest]

Ahhhhh. play it straight. what a trick. Cheers for that Pepka. I'd forgotten that little beauty.

[Guest]

Ahhhhh. play it straight. what a trick. Cheers for that Pepka. I'd forgotten that little beauty.

[Brad Jeffers]

Ben, I like your idea of using someone's own business card for doing Zoom. I once read an online interview you did, where in reference to zoom, you said "We were even offered a six figure sum to sell it privately." :eek: Did you mean by this, that someone offered to pay you $100,000 + for the rights to this effect! I'm not quite sure I understand what is meant by "to sell it privately", but I do understand "six figure sum"!! Could you expand on this a bit. Thanks.

[Guest]

One best card trick? If there is a "one best card trick" for me it is Triumph - basically Vernon's from Stars of Magic. I've been doing it for about 50 years and have not yet found one to take it's place. And, yes sometimes as a "Cutting the Aces Routine" from a "mixed up deck or a Poker deal. The concept of a totally mixed up deck - straightening out is hard to beat.

[Pete Biro]

Six figures? Lira? No more, Euro... tsk tsk :D

BTW... to be honest, all the "improved" versions of Vernon's "published" TRIUMPH are nowhere as good as the original... they all miss the point, overproving, confusing layouts, etc.

Then... and when you have not table... the SLOP SHUFFLE is my card trick of choice.

:rolleyes:

[Pete Biro]

Not to mention the card on zee forehead... :eek:

[Guest]

Pete, you are absolutely correct! I've not found any of the "cleverer" versions of Triumph to be as good as the original Vernon.

[Guest]

BTW, Pete - what means - Six figures? Lira? No more, Euro... tsk tsk

[Pete Biro]

Someone said they were offered, or would offer, six figures for a trick... Dollars? Hahahah... Lira? Maybe? :D

[Guest]

I agree that the origianl Vernon Triumph is great. However what appears in Stars of Magic is NOT the original. Vernon, I understand, also preferred his original handling. The Stars of Magic series was meant for wide appeal, so what appears there is an easier handling devised by Dai for that purpose.

[Matt Sedlak]

Yes, the handling in Stars of Magic is not the original handling. The original used an up the ladder cut to show the deck to be sixed I believe. As to there not being any improvements to the original routine, I disagree. There are quite a few versions that I would say are better then Vernon's. However, Vernon's routine is not only powerful, but also rather easy, which is the reason for it's popularity amongst magicians I think.

[Ben Harris]

Hey Brad,

In regards your question about being offered a six figure sum for the private sale of Zoom.

I was offered $100,000.00 by a big name to sell it exclusively to him and to refrain from putting it on the market.

This is the first time of thought about this in a few years. I wonder if I should have said "Yes" to the offer? Only kidding. I'm still happy that I turned it down. If I had sold it exclusively, then I wouldn't be able to use it myself (that was part of the deal).

Zoom can be used to make so many points and examples in real world use.

I trained one of our advertising clients so he could present a strong case for a budget increase at a high-powered finacial meeting.

He wanted to illustrate that he could "move mountains and achieve anything!"

His example was to mentally move his company director's business card from one side of the table to the other by "sheer determination and will power ALONE!

He used Zoom and got his extra million dollars!

Cheers

Ben

[Andru Luvisi]

Leipzig's Opener. Short, simple, right between the eyes.

Andru
http://www.practicenotincluded.com/

[Guest]

The one card trick that I seem to do when I can only do on is Eddie Fechter's "Be Honest,What Is It."
If I want to carry an extra card I will do Brother Hamman's "Two Card Trick" as my opener.

[Guest]

:p The one card trick for me? Without a doubt "The Notis Stop Trick", described by Dai Vernon.
The one Close-Up trick without cards: "Eternal String" by Max Londono (New Stars of Magic). Take a yellow string. ;)