On 2009-03-02 19:06, Doug Lippert wrote:

dvd like Tensegrity and Orange. (it really helps in the orange carving, LOL)

On 2009-03-02 09:59, Magicsquared wrote:
Niva,

I've performed Dunn's Deal a few times since getting the set and have performed OOTW for 20 years. Although they're almost identical, I don't see them as completely analogous effects. But I would say the reaction I've gotten with Dunn's Deal is as good or just a touch better than what I get with OOTW, which is saying a lot because OOTW is something I've worked on for years and always gets an incredible reaction.

About reverse engineering: a magician might be able to but I don't think even an intelligent spectator would be able to because the first thing you do is have them shuffle the deck which throws the idea of any arrangement out the window.

My tips: I won't go into my whole presentation, but I don't talk about separating reds from blacks until the very end of the effect (once the deck has been reassembled and is in front of them waiting for the climax). During the dealing phase I ask them to deal cards into two piles, not to just deal back and forth, but rather just to let their instincts guide them while they think this particular thought (as per the DVD presentation).

Here's the point I make: "Don't worry too much about what cards go where, just concentrate on your memory and try to keep the piles relatively even because we're going to shuffle them together at the end." So the spectator knows before they even deal the cards that the piles will be mixed at the end.

It's not until the very end, before the climax, that I mention color again and talk about how we went through the deck at the beginning and observed the pattern of the deck and so on. There's obviously more to the presentation than that, but the implication becomes not that they separated the deck into reds and blacks during the dealing procedure, but that --knowing the two piles would be mixed at the end-- they separated the deck in such a way that a shuffle at the end would produce a "balanced" deck of reds and blacks.

I can understand if this effect doesn't click with everyone, but I've had really good success with it so far. I love that it seems so hands-off once the effect starts for the person.

One final tip: I don't ask them to think of a negative thought midway through. I have them concentrate very hard on that positive thought. What I do is that I ask them some kind of non-sequitur question in the middle of the procedure. Nothing too odd, but something they'll remember, perhaps, "Where should we go for breakfast tomorrow?" (which is what I asked the person I performed it for this weekend), or something that makes it seem like maybe MY mind is wandering. After they start to answer and deal through a few more cards I say, "I'm sorry, I'm distracting you." And I get them to pause for a second, get back into that positive frame of mind and then deal until the end. During that end reveal I remind them of the question I asked them and tell them that I really wasn't curious about what we were going to do for breakfast (or whatever) I just wanted to show them what would happen when they got distracted. As we go through the pile the "mistakes" almost seem to prove to them that they really were using some untapped part of their mind to arrange the deck that way.