So I was at the Northern Magic Circle convention yesterday and managed to have a good 2 and a half hour chat with Marc Paul over drinks.

We talked about various things such as booktests, the trick that can't be explained, spell checks , and we eventually came to the ACAAN plot.

I showed Marc the version I use which is basically a Reverse S******i deck which for me works, it is always in the spectators hand and as far as they are concerned it is the perfect effect.

I didn't ask for his method since I believe it is Marc's and for Marc to divulge if he ever chooses too.

Just as we were about to go to the gala show, Marc asks a someone if they have a deck of cards on them. He asks the person to shuffle the cards and to place them face down on the table.

Marc requests a card to be named, it is the 9 of Hearts.

Marc then asks for any number to be named, it was the number 5.

With that look of smug satisfaction that he must have had when he came up with his AAA Booktest, he looked towards the deck of cards on the table. He requested for the 5th card to be dealt down to.

It was the bloody 9 of hearts!!!

Borrowed Deck,
Shuffled by the spectator,
Any card named,
Any number named,
Spectator deals down to that card face up!

I was stunned. I still am. It was the perfect demonstration of ACAAN.

Hats of to Marc for a fantastic lecture and for allowing me to experience an effect that not many people will ever see.

I'm as giddy as bus full of schoolgirls going to a backstage "Twilight" premiere party!

M

Firstly, nice Twilight referance.

Secondly... how... o.O

Were all the cards different?

Firstly, it was a borrowed and shuffled deck

Secondly as I said above "I didn't ask for his method since I believe it is Marc's and for Marc to divulge if he ever chooses too."

M

Oh Matthew, you are soooo 'team jacob'!

Sounds like fun... I amazed that someone was willing to talk to you for that long... I suppose there was alcohol involved though...

xx

Actually I offered to get him a drink and he asked for an Apple & Blackcurrent J20.

(he was driving down south that night you see)

I am amazed he stayed that long too!!! I supopose the metal chain I placed round his right leg didn't help matters!

M

Hi Matthew,

the Marc Paul's version is like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wXjNJG0rZc

Just to have an idea about the effect.

M.P.

I didn't watch it

M

Marc Paul's version or my link on youtube?

M.P

Marc Pauls.

I was blindfolded with 137 coins over my eyes, 3,000 feet of toilet roll around my head and 400 Thomas The Tank Engine Plasters over my face so I never saw what happened in my first post unfortunatey.

M

Is this a demo of a marketed effect or just a stooge?

Try to ask directly the author.

Just I posted a video as close as possible at the version described in the first post.

M.P.

Please people, lets stay with our feet on the ground.
All the mumbo jumbo about the so called "perfect" Berglas effect is just not possible (apart from the 1 in 52 lucky chance).

When you ask a spectator (who is not a stooge) for his deck, you don't touch the deck and you ask the spectator to shuffle the deck, name a card and a number, there is NO way of knowing what card is at which place. It's that simple.

A stooge that can (false) shuffle the cards is enough to repeat the effect exactly as described. You may even ask the name or the number to someone else first if your stooge knows a MD. You have to do nothing, apart of receiving the applause...

Re Waterloophal's post:

I thought the objective of the craft was to create exactly the opposite. Don't we seek to put the witnesses to what we do in a position where their feet are metaphorically lifted way off the ground?

If Marc Paul leaves, in the minds of his audience, the memory of the 'perfect Berglas effect' I for one admire him for doing so. It's how legends are made. Who wouldn't want to be a legend?

Trying to emulate what Marc Paul achieves in this respect seems to me to be far more constructive than finding ways to dismiss the responses and perceptions he creates and elicits from those that see him work.

Neal

Who said the opposite? When I write "lets stay with our feet on the ground",I am talking about magicians and not the public. This is a forum for magicians, is it not?
So I don't dismiss the responses and perceptions he creates by the public. On the contrary.
I simple am a bit troubled when "magicians" begin to have the same responses and perceptions by such a trick.

Funny how the effect can overshadow the method. I have been preaching this for a long time.

People just love to search for things that can't be found. I agree with most about what took place. I am completly cool with it. It is one of the best methods to achieve ACAAN.

To Waterloophal:

Magicians are members of the public too. They still have the capacity to be amazed, astounded and have their 'feet lifted off the ground'.

It might happen less often than it does for the non magicians, but thankfully it still happens and when it does I don't think that it should be 'troubling' or a matter for concern. On the contary I think it ought to be greeted with open arms and enthused about as Mathew has done in this thread about Marc's peformance.

I for one welcome such occasions and for this very reason look forward to the next time I get the chance once again see Armundo Lucero as I find my status of 'magician' doesn't stop me from being as much a lay person when watching him as ... well a lay person.

To Sealegs:

I agree with you 100%. There is no contradiction in what I ment to say. I must have formulated my ideas badly. (language barrier...)

Marc Paul is a friend and student of David Berglas. I have personally witnessed David perform this effect many times, always as described and never misses. I have also seen Marc Paul perform the effect on England TV's Parkinson Show on YouTube. No stooges, no ifs & buts.

Just because you can't explain something, doesn't mean it's impossible. That's magic.

Solomon

Wow

Bobser... I love you!