Taking a Chance.
One thing that I notice about the difference between a mentalist and a magician is when it comes to risk. I always thought it was funny when magicians throw away effects that aren’t 100%. To a mentalist, not having 100% success makes them more credible. Ironic I would say. Now obviously you wouldn’t do risk for risk’s sake. The result of taking a bigger risk should make the impact if the trick greater.
I want you to try this effect out. It is a simple simple key card effect, but instead, you put risk into it. I will explain the effect, and you should be able to come up with a method fairly easy. Remember, it only uses a key card. nothing extra.
Effect: Spectator shuffles the deck till he feels it’s mixed. He sticks his index finger into the deck anywhere and pulls out a card and remembers it. Then he puts the selection on top and cuts the deck to lose the selection. The magician tells the person to shuffle and mix until he feels there is no way you can find the card. After the shuffles he puts it onto the table. The magician, who hasn’t even touched the cards yet, tells the spectator he will try to divine the color of the selection. He stares at the spectator and then says a color. The spectator confirms that his card is red for example.
The magician says ” I have two cards in my head that I think is yours.” He searches through the deck and pulls out two cards. “I have two cards, but one of them is yours.” He shuffles the two cards around then says “which one is it.” The spectator points to one, and the one he points to is the selected card.
Now, this sounds amazing right? Well it is, when everything hits. It doesn’t mean it is horrible if it doesn’t hit. It is only bad if you the magician deems it bad. So here is the “risk factors” to enhance this simple trick.
This is in thanks to Gary Au’s brilliant thinking. Many magicians when doing a key card effect always goes for the deck straight away and searches… This is a dead give away. Instead, guess the color of the card. Only a 50% risk. Infact, I don’t even care if I miss it. If I guess it correctly I say, “I knew it. I have a card in my mind…” pick up the deck and find it. If I guessed wrong I say “Really… I had a Red and Black card in my mind, so I guess it isn’t that color…” and still pick up the deck. The most important part is that you are giving a reason go to the deck. You have a card FIRST then find the card SECOND.
Let them shuffle till they go blind. First of all, they won’t shuffle that much. The mere fact that you are so free with it makes them less resistant. The impact of being so free during shuffling is well worth the risk. People tend to not shuffle that well to separate the key card too far. Besides, you eliminate one color before you go to the deck. For example, the selection is red. If there is some black cards shuffled in between the key card and the selection, you will know which card it is.
Lets assume the card is Red, but you see 2 red cards next to the key card. Easy, take both out and have them choose it. 50% again, but the effect is just as good if he didn’t guess it right. You said you thought it was two card, and you did pull out two cards. That is amazing enough. Just go on your gut feeling which hand of yours he would point to.
Try it out. By putting risk into your card effects you can make something pretty mundane into something amazing.
For more on this kind of magic, read “Absolute Magic” by Derren Brown. Da best in the biz.
Comments: 7 Comments.
Yeah, I love intuition. A couple of weeks ago at a party I comfortably said to a spectator, as if it was a well-practised, fool-proofed trick: "Name a card!" I had no idea what the top or bottom cards were, but when she shouted "10 of Diamonds" and I turned over the… well, 9 of Diamonds, she was really amazed, and said it was so close to a miracle. Taking risks can be funny, and you can even amaze yourself if it turns out well.
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Derren Brown has a lot of ideas and things to say about that subject
and I totally agree with you..taking risks can increase the power of any effect so much.
and on top of that…its so much fun to do!the magican can feel the exitement while performing a trick =)
have you read the part where derren talks about having multiple outs?
he talks about this effect where he has two people think of a card and so on…
it fits in this kind of subject as well…
it was really interesting for me to hear what he had to say.gave me some ideas as well.
anyway…when I perform for friends I often try things like that
for example after I get back the deck from shuffling,I glimpse some cards..maybe the top+bottom card,some cards under a break..whatever then I just have someone name a card..if they happen to name one of the glimpsed cards I can perform miracles.If they don't I just go trough the deck and perform an effect with the named card.
another example:
I sometimes perform chicago opener as a mental effect,I tell them 'there is one card in this deck thats diffrent from all the others,I'm mentally sending you that card now."
then they name a card.if it happens to be the right card – you performed something amazing,they will never be able to figure it out…cause you can't.
if not then then spread the cards face down,look for their card,get it into the DL situation that you need to display it with the diffrent back…blabla…you know the drill 
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One of the biggest risks and most awesome tricks to do is "The trick that cannot be explained" by Dai. It's great. Check it out if you haven't. The explanation offers a lot of different ideas and ways to come out of your mess.
-Stein
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I've had this conversation a few times with a buddy of mine who's a mentalist. He often talks about tricks with me and when I ask what happens if he doesnt hit, he generally says something along the lines of "so what?" That's always gotten to me, and it's not until recently that I've realized how much this doesnt really matter; whether or not you hit. If you miss, brush it off and continue with something 100% or find an out, improvise.
As magicians though, we use these sleights and things to assure ourselves that we dont miss. We're afraid of missing. Mentalists on the other hand, just use things to improve their odds. It's a weird way of thinking.
I believe it was Lee Earle who speaks of having gotten drunk and decided to try an ACAAN effect without any prep or sleights. Literally just have them name a card and number and hope it works… It did. That's about as powerful as it gets guys.
I realize that I'm generally summarizing some of what you said, but I find it very interesting. Nice topic, and good point.
Thanks,
Lucas
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French magician Dominique Duvivier has a nice patter for _double_deal_ in which he takes a risk in order to justify switching the piles. He says something like "As you will seen in a minute, I could manage to have you correctly guess the color of the card so far. But sometimes, I just fail, like with the next card…". The next card he chooses is indeed guessed wrong. He turns it face up to prove it, saying "like I said! Ok, since you wanted the card to be put on this pile, …"
I tried it myself many times, and if you manage to bring this "sometimes i fail" thing at the right time, you can have more than 50% success chance. From the audience point of view, it is a strong convincer that the magician can actually foresee what is going to happen.
Thanks for your blog.
Yohann
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Whoa, crediting me for something that totally isn't mine 
. I DO love the addition of going to the deck, and making the guess. My idea was just messing with their memory a bit in Vernon's Emotional Reaction. But I love the application here! Giving yourself a reason to go for the cards, even mine didn't have that. My idea had me pick it up… by accident and "forgetting" I was supposed to do something else.
Another thing, I'm surprised you and the other commentators didn't mention this when they mentioned Derren. I know it's about introducing risk, but do the words "I want you to imagine the card, bright and vivid in your mind" remind anyone of how Derren would approach this? It'd be a good way to practice that also. Maybe that's what the other commentator who referenced Derren was thinking of though!
And besides… you just "read their mind"… they pictured it and you saw it. Now you can go to the deck and pull it out .
Very cool, Tony.
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liquidsn Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
there is nothing wrong with entertaining yourself…. oh… with magic.
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