I have a bunch of close up tricks that I am planning on using for table hopping. The thing is, I keep seeing that people do a lot of card tricks. I have always been very bad at card tricks, and I also play poker periodically with friends of mine, and we won't let another friend in because we know he can do awesome card tricks. So my question is it necessary or at least recommended that I have a couple of card tricks in my arsenal, even though I'm not really good at them?

You should never do anything that you're not really good at, and there is no law that says you have to do card tricks. The reason they are used by a lot of magicians is because you can do so many effects with a pack of cards that takes up almost no space in your pockets. However, they are certainly not required to be a restaurant magician. Just make sure that you ARE really good with the rest of your material!

A large percentage of specs are turned off by card tricks. Once they are tuned out, its very difficult to get them back. I will how ever push a couple, for filler. Like Scott said, do whats right for you. Coins lose alot of folks too. Bills on the other hand pick up interest from surrounding people. Go figure?

Sort your stuff into two piles. Impossible,visual,in their hands. Pack this in your bag. Leave the rest at home.

I have never had anyone ask me if I know any card tricks.(no matter how well prepared I am)

I do a couple of card tricks.... ambitious card, Side Swiped. However, I do a lot of effects WITH cards... card warp, matrix, three card monte... etc.

I've always been one of those who thought that pick a card, lose the card, then find the card was kinda dumb in the first place.

Now... after saying that, I am interested in a card in wallet routine to add to my repertoire (but not necessarily for a card). Anyone want to recommend a wallet that won't cost me a small fortune?

I'm going to have to disagree with my esteemed collegue KingStarDog.

I have not found this to be true at all.

I've had 1 person tell me that "I don't do cards" for religious reasons.

I've had one person tell me "I don't do cards" because their brother was a gamble-a-holic.

I've had a group of cub scouts not want cards for whatever reason (so I used UNO cards and that was fine by them).

But that is over hundreds and hundreds of performances.

I personally was searching for non-card-openers for a while because of all the rumors, etc. Now I could care less and open with whatever suits my mood.

I truely believe it all depends on how you present yourself in your approach. If you're confident, with a hint of fun, and interesting, without making the mistake of trying to be "over-the-top" cool or funny or whatever, you'll do just fine, regardless of the effect.

If you walk up and say "wanna see a card trick" and wipe your nose on your sleeve, you are probably better off turning their $1 into a $100 ... and walking off.

The bottom line is... HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CARDS?

Oh no, don't get me wrong, They are going to get about 15-20% cards from me too.. I just keep the percentage down. What you are saying is right Frank, Its all how confident you feel in the effect and how you present it that matters.

What I should have said was: A large percentage of specs are turned off by MULTIPLE card tricks.


My wife's company just hired a Ren fair type of stroller for her company party on Saturday.

It was table hopping and strolling for the pre-dinner and a short stage show before the dancing.

It was very unusual to be the fly on the wall for a change, and also in the crowd with all confederates (her fellow employees) because I had the opportunity to hear what folks say about all of the same stuff that I do myself. I spent about an hour following the guy around and held back when he moved on to other groups. This gave me the chance to hear what the other folks thought.

BTW: I did endorse his, very well put together show, for future events.(yes, even with alot of cards)

I see. Yep. I would agree about that unless you're awfully good.

Someone like Simon Lovell can certainly pull it off.

I started with just cards and told myself I would just do cards that way I could focus and not spread myself too thinly.

When I saw my first good coin trick, I threw that philosophy in the trash right away and I consider that to be my best decision in magic, to date!

I think it is so important for everyone to branch out and do other things that they enjoy. It helps with your magic in general.

My jouney into coin magic introduced me to John Carney's book "Carneycopia" which has had the greatest impact on all of my magic.

I learned that for the spectators to feel magic, misdirection is key.

So I learned to always misdirect. And that has made all the difference.

Clod,
I don't think it's neccessary to have card tricks in your routine. You might want to have one ready if someone asks for one, but even then you could do card warp, or something that uses cards, without the "pick a card" stigma.

Some of my favorite table hoppers purposely don't use cards. Some don't because they are generally working for youngsters. Others have found more "commercial" routines that work better for them. You could do an all sponge ball routine, as long as it was interesting. Maybe even an all rope routine, as long as it doesn't get boring. I am a firm believer in mixing it up, but you get the point.

Frank put it best: How do YOU feel about cards? If you really enjoy working cards, then by all means go for it. If they intimidate you, go for something else. Just make sure you are good.

Troy Roark

The magic shouldn't be about the props. It should be about the performer entertaining an audience. The trick is just the framework for the entertainment. However, a performer's skills have to be good to keep attention for more than a few effects.

If I'm in a big hurry (that is, I'm trying to hit a bunch of tables toot sweet), then sometimes I'll skip the cards. However, when doing this I've actually had people REQUEST cards, so go figure. If you don't like cards, but want to have one handy, the Card Warp idea mentioned above is an excellent recommendation. I didn't like cards either for a long time (like you, I didn't feel my skill with them was very strong). Now, however, I really like cards. For one, you can personalize a card (by having it signed) for a spectator. This makes it "special" and, as I said, personal. This has a much DIFFERENT impact on the spectator than, say, watching a 3 Fly routine. For banquet work I will sometimes use Darwin Ortiz' Card Warp Deck. This allows you to get into card warp in a very fair manner (in the eyes of your audience, anyway).

I do think that spectators do enjoy card tricks but I alway find they love tricks with everyday objects best.

If you want to do some easy card tricks, why not use Invisible Deck and a Svengali deck. Use the Svengali to force a card then get them to replace to middle of deck say you're going to make it jump to the top of deck. Turn the top card over and show that you have failed. Some spectators get relly cocky at this point......then just change he top card into the chosen card in there hand. NO SKILL REQUIRED.

Whatever you can do well and know that will play well, you should do.

The one card trick that audience's do not treat like a card trick that I've been doing all the time lately (in restaurants, esp. since it's modular and you can either do easy quick versions or epic heavy versions) is Greg Wilson's Name Tag Trick....

To: Jongallagher

This is my first public post.

I'm just getting back into magic after a "burn-out" hiatus of approx 8 years. I never felt comfortable using gimmicked wallets mostly because I could never decide which one to use which was the "best" and I didn't want to "invest" $300-500 learning which I liked best and because I was going thru a "pure"(no gimmicks) phase at the time.

However, I used to do a card prediction using an ordinary wallet and an ordinary deck of cards. The effect was shown to me by Joe Givan. I don't know who originated the principle used in the effect or the effect itself but I modified the routine to suit my handling and personality.

Effect:
The single card in the wallet (different colored back from deck being used just for contrast and to cancel any suspicions of using duplicate cards) matches the spectator's "chosen" card. at the denouement, I would hand the wallet to the spectator and let the spectator take the card out of the wallet and examine the wallet, the prediction card and the deck. All are ordinary. The prediction card was in the wallet the entire time. The wallet can be laying on the table the entire time or you can pull the wallet out of your suit pocket when needed. Either way, it's a killer.

Turk (Portland, OR)

If you aren't comfortable with cards, you should avoid cards.

However, I do not at all believe that "most spectators are turned off by card tricks."

Most spectators are turned off by a performance of a string of tricks that make no connection between the performer and the audience. The props are relatively inconsequential.

I also agree with Jamy Ian Swiss, who points out in "Shattering Illusions" that playing cards carry a variety of emotional associations that other props do not.

If you think about it that way, in terms of the emotional associations you create with your performance, it won't much matter which props you use, really.

A friend on another forum pointed out a couple years ago that cards are among the most versatile props. Since then I find that I'm never without a deck of cards, and that I use cards much more in professional performance that I used to.

Finally, let me just second what Alan said about spectators requesting cards. I have often found that an audience becomes much more animated and interested when a deck of cards comes out. It may have to do with the aforementioned emotional connections, or it may have to do with the fact that so many people know one or two (weak) card tricks, but this happens very often. And I've never seen an audience show signs of annoyance or boredom just because I produced a deck of cards.