I'm on my way out the door so I only really have time to open up the door here, but what did everyone think about Paul Gordon's tricks that he shared. A reminder, they were "Diminishing? Not Likely!" and "Twister!"

Has anyone taken the time to play around with them?

Has anyone actually used them in your table work?

I will comment in more detail when I return with my thoughts on BOTH of these routines and how practicle I think they both are in a restaurant or strolling environment.

I look forward to my return home to read everyone's thoughts...

Christopher

I own most of Paul's books and news those already. They are really workers, no doubt about that, and play very well for laymen. Paul has a lot of workable stuff, he does those all the time for real people.

I recommend by the way his last 3 DVD Set 'Card Startlers', with almost 50 card tricks, all doable in real world.

I have played around with Twister. I like how it looks but have not performed it for anyone yet. Once I feel comfortable with it I'll let you know how it goes.

I actually posted about this in the original thread -
Autumn 2009 - Comments or Questions?

But it got lost in amongst the squabbling

Shame as this was part of the real meat of the magazine and nearly all the posters were just picking at the bones

I've already played with 'Diminishing? Not Likely!' and it's a great follow up to any 4 ace routine

Even better is that you can go onto Paul's own website and watch him use this in performance to 'real' people and see that it's straight out of his real working material

Watching him perform also clarifies the last of the 4 displays which is hard to get from the printed word

Very generous Paul - I look forward to your next offering

I'm sorry that I'm just now getting back around to posting my thoughts here, but had a very interesting last few days that kept me away.

I have not yet had the opportunity to really do much with Twister, but I will chat about my thoughts on Diminishing? Not Likely!

Paul uses one of my favorite sleights with this and that is the Jennigns Diminishing Lift Sequence. This routine is GOLD in my opinion. I did not watch Paul do it on his website until I had the chance to script out my own routine as I didn't want this performance to influence how I performed it.

First let me say that this is a VERY COMMERICAL routine that takes all of about a minute to pull off. It's a great way to establish yourself at someone's table, it happens IN your hands so no table space is needed, and best of all, it's quite visual. You're getting a lot from 4 lousy cards!

Although I feel that copying another's routine isn't the way to go (what works for me may not work for you), I will share my routine that I came up with for Paul's beautiful effect. Use it if you like:


I reach into my inside jacket pocket and remove a deck of cards dropping them to the table and I begin to say...)

"You know, in all of my years performing magic, one thing that has become abundtly clear to me is that anytime a magi removes a pack of cards to begin a card trick, it seems to be that people lose interest. I can usually hear peoples eyes rolling back in their head from across the room as they think to themselves, "not another card trick!"

"Why is this? I think it's becuase so many people have been held hostage by so many magicians torching them with poorly executed card magic. Truthfully, card magic has become such cliche'."

"Think about it. You pick a card, you put it back into the deck...what happens?" (Wait for them to answer...they will ALWAYS say YOU FIND IT!).

"EXACTLY! I find the card. So you already know the ending. The surprise factor has been lost. The absense of mystery leaves most audiences bored with card magic."

"Tonight...I have a plan to fix that problem."

(Hand the deck of cards to the spectator and have them remove them from the box and shuffle the deck. Take the cards back and say...)

"Ok, so first of all most magicians would never let YOU shuffle their cards and as you can just see (face up hand to hand ribbon spread. Cull the Aces to the top of the deck here) I have let someone else mix the deck...so already...much differnt than any other trick you've ever seen before."

"Now for the old cliche'. Would you please select a card. Place it back in the deck and a few shuffles to lose it."

"Ok...here's where I change it up. Instead of ME finding your card...what if we could get the cards to tell us what card you selected in the pack? We'll deal out 4 cards here and they will tell us what card you chose..."

The rest of the routine is pretty much Paul's patter line. I think this is one really great card trick that deserves everyone's attention!

Thanks Paul for sharing this great routine with the world!

Christopher

Yeah, Paul Gordon's Diminishing Not Likely and Twister ARE the best! I saw Paul perform these on his dvd set Card Startlers. I wrote him and he says he uses both at every show...often 20 times a night! Hey, man - I'm not on a buck here, but Card Startlers is the best card magic dvd set I've seen. 47 tricks of the same calibre as the two in Magic Menu. Wow-wee!!! I'm off to subscribe to MM soon!

JP

For those who want to see these two tricks performed by the man himself, there's a newly edited clip at http://www.themagicmenu.com/autumn09.htm

I must admit, Paul's "Dimishing Not Likely" is a great routine I've used (with slightly different handling) for several years as it is a great opener.Maybe I'll pass on my introductory handling and reasoning for a later issue. There had been a few similar ideas out there, but it was Paul's description and presentation that made me add it to my repertoire when I first came across it in one of his books.

Marlo's "Future Classic" in the fifties was similar and ended up with four two's and a patter line about being double crossed

Paul even has a version in print with two selections. However, "Diminishing Not Likely" is the most often used Paul Gordon trick in my repertoire.

Paul.

And, it's now my most used Paul Gordon trick. I can't stop "gushing" about it. It's "up there" with his Shocked Aces, Totally Baffling, Knock 'Em Dead and Mars Life! Wowsie, wow-wow! JP