I have a couple decks of gaff cards, including the ones from Ellusionist and a couple from Magic Makers. In addition to that, I have Color Monte and Ultimate 3 Card Monte.

While looking through some of the cards, especially the Magic Makers and Ultimate 3 Card Monte sets, I began to wonder...when should one use gaff cards? I know that Color Monte, for example, is all about the gaffed cards and the surprise at the end. But if one were to study how to do a real 3 card monte, would one use a gaffed deck such as Ultimate?

I guess my question comes down to this...when do you think it's appropriate to use a gaff to achieve a specific effect? If you could do the same with a regular deck, why use a gaff?

To me it is about which is most effective. That is what we should use. For example, the Invisible Deck trick using a trick deck, versus the sleight of hand version. Both have the same end, but the gaffed version seems to me more effective, because it is so clean. The effect is very linear, unlike the sleight of hand version which seems cluttered with extra moves.

I think in the end it is not about whether it is gaffed or simply sleights. It is about what is most effective for what you are trying to achieve. Just a thought.
Peace Beth

I've been playing with the idea of doing 3CM with cards from a regular deck but having Skinner's "Ultimate Monte" with the deck as well. My idea is to ring in U3CM at some point and possibly ditch them at the end. The thought is that the routine will get smoother and more magical as it progresses.

I haven't used a gaffed deck in quite some time but have rung in gaffed and gimmicked cards for a couple of routines.

I don't think it is a question of being appropriate or not, as gaffs are just tools of the trade. However, I may just be mis-reading your question, so I'll offer this.

I don't think that it is always better to forsake gaffs in favor of sleights that accomplish the same thing. To me, always doing so is either a matter of earnest desire, inflated ego, or a matter of a misunderstood characterization.

There are magicians that choose not to work with gaffs of any type because they want to take magic in new directions. These are the cats that create the new stuff. They are going places and maybe even bringing us with them. This is a pretty cool reason for avoiding gaffs. But it is about the only cool reason I can think of for never using gaffs.

Whenever I hear someone say, "I used to use gaffs when I was younger and didn't know as much, but now I don't have to" I wind up just walking away as there usually isn't enough space in the room for both of our egos, and I don't want to let the conversation digress into a ****ing match about the suitablility of gaffs vs. the ability to do sleight of hand. An inflated ego tends to leak through into the live performance and audiences really know, and really don't like it when someone is just blowing an inflated ego up their collective ass.

Incomplete characterization is also a concern. Some magicians never use gaffs because they want to be able to relenquish their props to anybody at any given time. In my opinion, this behavior is best suited to a character that would normally behave this way, someone oozing a "Trust Me!" persona...perhaps a self-proclaimed conman or a shyster lawyer. Then it could be worked up as a really neat piece of theater. In contrast, I expect to hear conflicting comments from bar workers on this one, and that should be pretty interesting.

I think the use of gaffs is more a matter of timing as applied to theater. As Jaz indirectly stated, the ringing in or out of any type of gaff is most importantly a matter of timing. When they're rung in too soon, or rung out too late, the tools of the trade tend to lose all of their effectiveness.

I use gaffs all the time. But I don't open any sets with them, nor do I close any sets with them. The tools are in and out before the heat is on.