What's the big deal with the pass? Why was this the end-all be-all sleight for decades? It seems to me there are better, easier, and more deceptive ways to accomplish the same effect. Why were magicians judged on how well they could do the pass? I can't do the pass for beans, but there are other sleights I can do pretty well. Does that mean I'm a lousy magician? (Of course I'm not that great, either )

Turner,

It is true that there are many different ways to accomplish an effect. And as a performer you have to choose the one that best fits the moment - even if it means working for long periods of time to get to that point.

I will say that when you've seen a master do the pass in a performance - there's nothing - nothing - like it.

I attended Card Clinic this past March and watched Jamy Swiss FRY layman (and magicians) repeatedly with his pass work. During one of the late night sessions, I was lucky enough to spend an hour with Jamy going over the finer of the move and it's applications.

It's not the only move out there - but it's one of the best!

It depends on the magician.... and the effect.

For some effects, the pass is the tie-breaker you need to turn it from a good effect into an amazing effect. For example, a turnover pass in ambitious card (spread face up) KILLS. It's completely natural, with no false moves, and yet the card rises. You're right in thinking that earlier magicians were wrong (at least in my opinion) in believing that the pass was the be-all and end-all sleight of card magic.

I doubt you'll get much argument - I think the reasons for learning the pass are mostly curiosity and historial interest. It's fun to compare your pass to others. Personally, I do use the pass in my ambitious card routine but very much on an off beat.
At the moment, I'm working on 'Mike's Move' that I saw in Derren Brown's "Devil's Picture Book". If you haven't seen it I recommend it as the most innocent pass move I've ever seen.

Muggy

Please name the better, easier and more deceptive ways to accomplish the effect without any apparent motion.

You can easily get away with not learning the pass. But I find myself using it quite often. There are some tricks that you simply cannot do without the pass. It really helps an ambitious card routine if you really show card in the middle fairly at least once.

I use the pass about one out of every four times I do a control, if I think I can get away with it. If the spec is watching very closely, I'll do a shuffle control or something.

Well, I'm assuming you're refering to the Classic Pass. The turnover pass is easier, and may seem more invisible, but a well executed classic pass is MUCH quicker, because there's no "getready" and it all just happens in one quick move, making it harder to spot.

Turner if you want to see a control that is just as effective as a pass , check out top gun control,and color change,
Just as visual as a pass and can be learned in a fraction of the time.
go to http://members.aol.com/vinsmagic for a demonstration

This control does not take the place of the pass it is just an alternative.. to the pass

I learned the pass fairly early on in the process of learning card magic.

I find it to be the best control when you want it to appear like you did absolutely nothing!

If you were trying to argue on why the pass is a bad move, there is a perfect example.... you shouldn't be able to SEE a master perform the move, but you always can.


Anyway though, I like the move, it's an amazing card tool. Shifting all those cards in such a small place is a feat in itself.

Sure, there are a lot of controls that might be better, but personally, the pass is a bomb-proof sleight.

Once you have your break, there are a lot less ways to mess up a pass than lose a card or flash a side-steal.

Like it or don't like it, it's still a move that has amazing potential, in one instant you reverse a cut or bring a card to the top.

Some say that it is overkill for moving one card, but really if you have practiced the pass for any length of time, doing one quick pass is a lot less work than most other methods of controls.

People say it is overkill to do all of that just to move one card. But you aren't just moving one card; you are moving all 52. I don't think that most people realise that the main application of pass is not just to control one card.

I had the advantage of learning the pass when I was beginning. So I've been practicing and playing with it for years.

The pass is a great tool that is used for a specific job (incidentally I have only become a pass convert after ignoring it for many years so you can have a happy performing career without ever using it).

Most controls involve moving the other cards as well, shuffling, cutting, toying, spreading etc. These are invaluable in some contexts but not others. The pass is used when you want to emphasise that the cards have not moved.

For example an ambitious card effect you might not want to use a control that move the cards about as it could look like you are using this to bring the card to the top (which you are). Using the pass you could show the card being put in the middle and then immediately reappearing on the top. You could also use it for a reverse Ambitious card, placed on top that appears in the middle etc.

There are also times when you wouldn't use a pass but would go for another control. Its a matter of picking the right tool for the job you want to do.

My god! what is the world coming to, when card men start to DISRESPECT the Pass.
Most of you do know there are over 30 passes. At least one of them would be of interest to you, if not all of them.
Some passes are sooooo deceptive that you can fool yourself. and if a pass can be seen, then you should not be doing it until you practise more.
If you can pass the cards in any of the ways, without being detected, then you are a skilled card man.
And to turnerhooch, If you done your pass to a magician (and a good one), they would spot the point of your pass.
If you want to use a pass then you must ask what you want to achieve, and choose a pass that will get you there in the best way.
And I would suggest you don't judge all sleights on the David Blaine scale of media.

Here's a concept you may have overlooked:

The pass is essential to cheating technique. Perhaps this is a reason it has stuck around. I agree that there are better ways to control a single card, but these are not applicable at a card table once the cut has taken place.

be well,
JW

"What's the big deal with the pass?"

Because it's one of the most versatile sleights in existance

"Why was this the end-all be-all slight for decades?"

Because it's one of the most versatile sleights in existance

"It seems to me there's better, easier, and more deceptive ways to accomplish the same effect."

The pass is not an effect.

"Why were magicians judged on how well they could do the pass?"

Because when card magic started out, everything was built around only a handful of sleights including :the pass, force, palm and change. So if you couldn't do a pass there was very little you could accomplish.

"I can't do the pass for beans, but there's other slights I can do pretty well."

Do you think all sleights that you find difficult to do are terrible? Or just terrible in your hands?

Euan

The pass is quite useful in a lot of applications, but it also requires some good misdirection. Mine isn't very good so I only practice it. Unfortuately,
many people think theirs is invisible, when it's not.
That's when good misdirection or a different move comes in.

Aaron Fisher made a good point when he was a guest here at the Café:

"I don't know anyone who can use the pass properly who would trade it, or wished they hadn't spent the time."

And as for why a pass is sometimes necessary in place of other controls, see this reply from Darwin Otiz.

Let's look at the bare bones of what the Pass really is. All the Pass basically accomplishes is cutting the deck, that is, transposing the top half with the bottom half. For arguments sake, I know there are certain Passes that accomplish more than just this, but from a bare bones perspective, this is what a Pass accomplishes.

In all effects that need the top half to transpose with the bottom half, is it totally necessary to execute this invisibly through the use of a Pass? I personally don't think so. There are many times the effect could be accomplished by simply cutting the deck.

So why are magicians enamoured with the pursuit of "invisibly" transposing the top half with the bottom half? I think the answer was touched on in the first question . . . for some reason magicians ability have been judged on the ability to execute this move. I would also say they have been judged on two other moves; the double turnover and the diagonal palm shift.

If you watch magicians at a magic convention, there always seem to be a few that migrate to the corner and just start performing passes for each other. They are watching speed, angles, motion, etc. There is no "effect", just watching the "move".

We must understand that the "Pass" is not an effect! There is no mystery in transposing the top half with the bottom half!

Does this small diatribe mean that the Pass is not useful, absolutely not. My main problem with magicians using the Pass believe this IS the effect. It is not the effect, only the vehicle driven to accomplish the effect.

When watching a magician perform a Pass, even if it can't be seen, it can be "felt". In other words; the spectator may not know what happened, but they do know "something" happened.

In conclusion I would say this about the Pass. To those magicians that use the Pass as the vehicle to accomplish the effect, more power to them. To those magicians that believe the Pass IS the effect, shame on them. Transposing the top half with the bottom half is not an effect and will not fool a spectator.

I know someone on the board of magicbunny who wishes he hadn't bothered.

Me personally, I pass on occasions but my pass isn't that good. I do practise it, and I think even when burned people have a hard time spotting it, but I use a lot of misdirection, and when I can provide that, the pass is a very very usefull tool. So I think it is certainly a very good move, but I don't feel the need of making it as good as Peter Duffie's or some other guys at mvd.

The pass is also called the shift and the hop and it was a method of getting past the cut if you are a card cheat.

In magic there are many uses and many ways to do the pass. Some very good magic routines can be also done with the pass and several effects can't be done without it.

Several different pass-es can be also used as a color change. And color changes are strong magic.

You can do card magic without it. That doesn't make anyone a bad magicians. Less skilled at card moves - perhaps...

But I feel that the pass is worth learning...

Glenn Bishop
http://www.mrhypnotist.org