Paul Harris' Dehydrated Deck!

What about it?

Adam V-
Do you have the effect and have you tried
it out on an audience?

Yes and yes.

I'm willing to admit that I may not be presenting it in the best way, however I still feel that it is a fairly obvious effect. Still, if you guys are having good luck with it then power to you.

Hi Adam V -

Sudden Deck IS an odd trick to present because one has to both do something and NOT do something:

a) One has to casually point out the front and back of the opened card box, while...

b) ....refraining from saying anything along the lines of "I have no cards in here, but watch!"

That's an extreme (silly) example, but I'm serious - the best presentations point up the inside and outside without tipping the effect. Sudden Deck is a trick where the audience isn't supposed to know what is about to happen. That's a core principle of many magic effects, including this one! The patter I use is sometimes "Look what I do to save space...", or "Here's what I did when I went through customs last week..." or "My tailor insists I do this when I carry card boxes, so my suitjacket doesn't bulge..." I then say something to the effect of "It's not a problem, really, because a card box is just a piece of cardboard with an outside and an inside..." It's not until the box is folded that I imply something is going to appear inside. Work the folds so you can assemble the box smoothly, and stay ahead of them.

I've cobbled together a bunch of tricks over the years, and for my money - and for the reactions I get - Sudden Deck is one of the best. It uses a bold discrepancy as part of its method, as is happily pointed out in the directions. For those who like fiddling about, other handlings are possible. I sometimes use Method #2 described in the directions, but holding the opened box diagonally between the hands, and "wiggling" it. An advantage of the second method is that there is zero risk of perceived weight.

I am always fascinated by the fact that some people will get a strong reaction from a trick (any trick) and other people won't. When that happens to me I try to find out what the former are doing in the way of presenting the trick that gets them the response they get. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to change your mind if you feel this (or any) trick of mine is not for you, but as far as unrequested advice goes, that's pretty good unrequested advice.

Someone posted the responses he's been getting with Sudden Deck on the "other" forum. He wasn't a plant - I swear. Now I must stop replying to these threads because it comes off as self-serving, so thank you for bearing with me!

My wife just said I'm a little baby.

I know how you feel..

I received my sudden deck this afternoon. If I can fool the wife I know I've got something. I used it this evening at my restaurant gig and got good reactions even though I need to work on the presentation, which I will do. I'm also thinking this could be good to use in my stand up show. I like it and will use it!
Dan

I use "Sudden Deck" not as a single item but as an intro into something else. Such as "Kiss", "Koornwinder Kar", or " Card in Pen". I have had GREAT results with it. As for people examining my prop..........I don't think so & its not gonna happen. I paid just too much for my items to have that happen. If they ask, I say sure if I can go thru your personal items at your home. I am a Magician / Entertainer not a displayer of "neat items" for their "Whims or Wishes"

Frank Thomas

That's the spirit...

Hi Adam V,
Sorry if I sounded like that, but I said "if you do not have this effect...bla bla bla".

As for the Flustration count and the Cross Cut force, what I meant is that these are also obvious things, if you stop for a second to think about them. A friend I know doesn't use the Flustration count because he finds it is too obvious.

Hope I cleared up the mater now, so I can sleep.

Ivan

I know, I use them too. Well, not the flushtration count, but I use the Olram subtlety which is a move I used to think was garbage until I tried it.

That's it. Just give this some more tries and tell me how you are doing, wiil you? I can't wait to get my hands on one of these.

Ivan

It's a great surprising visual effect and the handling is very straightforward allowing full emphasis on the presentation.

The printing on the box makes me smile. Clearly altered as a result of copyright protection, it looks a bit like one of those fake branded goods, but no one seems to notice, not even the sharp-eyed card men.

Like most of Regal's commercial releases, this one is worth having.

Just a question to those who own it. Are there any (big) issues with being surrounded. Not as in watching your show, but if someone glances at me from behind, will they immediamtely know the gaff? In other words, would it be ok for restaurant work where I do the same routine every couple of tables?

I usually keep it close to my body if I don't have the best angles.That should cut down on anyone from behind.

They aren't the same effect. You put too much emphasise on examination instead of presentation. Sudden Deck makes a heckofalot more sense as an opener than Re-Boxed.



Sure!!! It is a great trick, but it makes no sense as an opener!!! Sudden Deck does! End of story.

"It really bugs me that "SuddenDeck" isn't selling as much as it should be and is losing customers from sometimes people that don't even have one!"

I am kind of happy that not everyone is buying this. This trick is too good to be in the hands of everyone. Since David deserves the dough though, I think he should have jacked up the price higher (after all the custom work he did) so that fewer people owned them. It is worth a lot more than it is priced.

I think it would be cool to combine Greg Wilson's Heavyweight Boxing with this trick. So if you have a slow crowd you can slay them with a re-boxed type effect. Yes, it would be divine, almost too divine.

Muhahahhahahahah, yes, the world will be mine...

Lee