I'm helping out in a fundraiser to generate money for homeless kids in our area....I thought of doing UTA as a means to generate some cash from participants in the betting, and when I win at the end, it all goes to the charity.....

Any ideas folks? Has anyone performed UTA for charity? I'm especially keen on any ideas that might have an out for me in the event something goes wrong? I obviously want the crowd to donate the cash! I'm donating my services....

I know you will say, "Well what can go wrong!" All of us have had things go wrong, and despite my intoxication with UTA, I presume even IT could follow Murphy's Law at some point, whether my handling, or the principle.

Whaddaya think Captain and others? Best, Bob

Hi Bob1Dog,

I have been one of the more vocal devotees of this mind-blowing effect/routine and have performed more than a dozen thematic variations on the core narrative.

Although I clearly cannot speak for its creator, and even considering the philanthropic virtue of giving to charity, the use of real money and actual loss seems to me a few degrees less magical.

You lose money at a casino. You lose money playing Poker or Blackjack. You lose money on Three Card Monte and the Shell Game.

Up the Ante is pure magic, not thievery - no matter the virtuous narrative skin.

Open to opinions here…

Panlives, I guess that may be one of my problems with UTA....it's ambiguous to perform unless you're really betting on something.....though you do make good points.....

I've performed UTA many times mostly for friends and one-on-one situations, and it never fails to astonish, but no real money is ever exchanged...Yet, the effect, aptly named, Up the Ante, is truly a betting game, no?

So that raises the question, how can I perform this at a show getting the spectators involved without money, chips, candy, or something of a real bet?

That's why I thought of doing this for a charity event, but you raise valid issues and I may have to re-think it.....Curious to see what others chime in with....Thanks! Bob

Chaps, A bit slow into the fray with this one as I have been doing lots of night flights! Am sat on the fence on this one....you both make valid points...I guess that if you go to a specific charity event then you are expecting to shell out for that charity so, in a way, you are not really gambling as such - just losing for real! It all depends on how the thing is sold. Will people be aware that their loss will be the charities gain?

An interesting point. Would like to hear more points of view.

The other point is over confidence with the performance; you are opening a can of worms if the bet goes 'live' and you blow it! That said, in hundreds of performances it has not gone wrong for me. Any error will be a procedural error on your part and total familiarity will be required here with the routine. I personally have no worries here - although, to be fair, my 'day job' does rather rely on me applying procedures correctly. If I get them wrong then people may end up paying the ultimate price alongside of me.....be confident and assured in your performance. Always.

Cap'n, you're right about the performance; only I can manage that. For that reason, I'm not wild about letting the spectator shuffle the cards unless you absolutely know he/she can perform a riffle shuffle. The first person I did UTA on was with my wife (as with all my stuff) after she assured me she could handle the riffle shuffle. She couldn't. The cards went all over the place. Little things like that are "things" that can go wrong. Of course, I have several decks prepared, so a backup would always be available. Still, the OCD type that I am makes me feel that I'm always being chased!

Anyway, looking forward to more opinions on this as well....Thanks gents!

Here are three of my posts from the thread linked to below, started by Vlad.
Since these postings, I have added many more approaches.
Perhaps these can better explain why live betting needn’t be part of the routine.
Having two romantically linked participants share in the cutting, counting and shuffling is (I think) an idea original to me. In any event, it opens some engaging possibilities, including a “sympathetic souls,” quasi-mentalism approach that that plays strongly.

Let me know what you think:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......&start=0

1)
“In my scripting, I have a romantically involved couple (spouses or significant others) share the cuts and shuffles. As the two participants handle the cards, my storyline centers around the vicissitudes of fate, luck, chance and the subtle and inexplicable coincidences in life that lead us to meet our true love. This leads to the stunning denouement: each half of the couple revealing, for all to see, that they have cut, shuffled and yet…they hold between them the perfect mirror of their eternal affections.

Make no mistake – this is a routine that soars. It can be presented as a seedy, “north of Fremont” tale of woe or as a sublime story of love and the ineffable bonds that connect us to each other.

Up the Ante is a stunner and will challenge (and doubtless improve, over time) your story-telling and audience management skill-sets.”

2)
“Hi All,

I just returned from another social get-together (an anniversary) and performed Up the Ante using my married couple routine.

They were elderly, sweet as a summer’s day. 60 years married and you could see that they are the rays of sunlight in each other’s lives.

I played to their long marriage, spoke about the passage of time and the eternal timelessness of love….it was 20% scripted; 80% jazz, impromptu, free-flowing.

I took the opportunity to play up the final reveal. As the final 26 cards were dealt onto a table for all to see (with a bit of verbal direction, they can be placed by two participants so they run sequentially from the Deuce to the Ace), the emotional resonance in the room went up several degrees. I spontaneously asked the wife and husband in turn to recall a moment from their lives together that held a special place in their heart. A memory, two cards placed on the table, a match…13 times…it was a delight, a barometer of their love. The incredible magic seemed to tease out their personal biographies…as if the secret book of their lives was opened for us to see…

By the time the matching Aces were revealed (I asked them to keep the last two cards in their hands and slowly turn them to face the guests whilst thinking of their 60 years of love), the couple was crying, along with every single guest in the room.

They kissed, we all cheered and the magic was all about them.

I would have paid a lot of money for a magical routine so powerful and adaptable to the situation that it could elicit real, genuine tears. I didn’t – I paid a relatively small amount of money for something that just today played bigger than any routine I have ever performed.

My friends – if you value the opportunity to create great stories, Up the Ante is your best, secret weapon. It will make you pay attention to the participant(s) and the wider audience with a mental acuity that few “tricks” require. As a result, your magic will become stronger.

And guess what? I have a week end gig for a coterie of cigar-smoking Poker playing buddies. I am already formulating this story: “As a card mechanic, I have seen many strange things in my time, but none so inexplicable as ‘this thing’ an old sharp showed me in a Las Vegas casino hotel room way, way north of the glittering strip. I lost a lot of money that night and paid a small fortune more to learn the secret of doing something that defies every law of nature. It took me 4 years to master; 5 hours a night, studying things called optical shuffle tracking, and how blinking our eyes affects the cognitive infrastructure of what we see and therefore, what we do; and a bunch of other really weird and esoteric stuff. I almost lost my job; my wife almost divorced me. But I finally cracked the secret. And here…right now…is what the old card sharp showed me…”

Up the Ante is magic because it creates the opportunity for you to make the magic fit the mood. It makes you as the performer feel as engaged and stunned as the people who see it performed.

I have given a taste of two routines/scripts. I have developed a half dozen more –and again, all have multi-dimensional variations that are entirely spontaneous, sparked by the real-life situation at that moment in time. People start talking, laughing, joking, and opening up about their lives…

...and it all comes out of a regular deck of playing cards. No gimmicks, no bad angles, nothing but the power of making real magic emerge from real people.

What an amazing routine.”

3)

“Hi All,

My performance for the Poker room was interesting – a solid success, based on “WTF” reactions and other profane expressions of incredulity.

In response to a query – no, the plots I outlined in previous posts are not complete scripts. They are rough sketches that do rely on the performer having some facility with impromptu verbal skills.

For example, something I left out in my description was how I framed the triplicate reveal of 4 packets in a row, each containing all four suits. For the occasion described above, it was natural to speak of the four suits symbolizing the four seasons and by extension, the four seasons of our lives: the unabashed exuberance of Spring; the verdant fulsomeness of Summer; the melancholy of Autumn and the difficult times we have to endure – the Winters of our discontents. On the third reveal, I end with the promise of a new Spring so as to complete the circle of life on a positive note.

This approach, by the way, also allows the performer to speak about how a deck of cards has its roots in the misty, unrecorded past of the Far East and Central Europe.; how the deck, to this day, is a metaphor for life: 52 cards representing the number of weeks in a year, the four suits (as mentioned) are the four seasons; two colors (red and black)- matching the two halves of the year (summer solstice and winter equinox); all of the spots on the cards in the deck totalling 365, the number of days in a year.

But it is important for me to emphasize that the magic plays big on its own merits, as the performer never has to touch the cards once they are introduced to the table. The magic is all done by the participant(s) in ways that clearly contradict all common sense and natural laws.

You can have a terrific amount of wicked fun presenting Up the Ante as a study in statistical probability. In fact, I have – to a group of student engineers.

Performed “straight up” or gilded with a routine/story of your choosing, Up the Ante is a pedal-to-the-metal winner.”

That's some seriously high end thinking panlives.........absolutely brilliant!

Bob,

For this situation, I'd recommend Lennart Green's Rosetta shuffle.

Excellent idea! Personally I always seem to find at least one person in the audience who can riffle shuffle as it really diminishes the effect, IMHO, if the performer has to resort to the shuffle but, if you don't, thenthe rosetta shuffle is a real gem.

Thanks, Panlives, for those marvellous reviews (I don't pay him, honest!!). You have always been such an enthusiastic supporter of Up The Ante and I thank you, Sir!

Will be in deepest, darkest Africa for the next 3 days or so - one day I will relate how a Ghanian Police Roadblock, an enthusiastic peeler and Up The Ante almost got me into deep trouble....

Cheers

Martyn

Posted: Nov 7, 2010 12:44pm
Am looking forward, BTW, Panlives, when I could read or watch your approach to UTA - it sounds very, very interesting and I, for one, can't wait to see them! As silverking says, some seriously high end thinking going on there!

Thank you, silverking.

Happy to share for the greater good!


If there is a concern about the participants’ ability to keep a riffle shuffle from unspooling, the Rosetta Shuffle is a good alternative.

Moreover, when managing two romantically close participants as mentioned in my posting above, making two “roses” is thematically consistent with the scripting.


Hi Captain,

Always an honour to hear this from the creator.

As I wrote elsewhere - between life and other things, I have been working on several of my “Up the Ante” presentations, complete with scripts, body language, psychology, and versions for close-up, parlour and stage.

At the time I proposed calling a multi-performer, collaborative effort:

Raising the Ante
A treatise on performing "Up the Ante.”
Replete with stories, scripts, tips, hints, thoughts, experiences, variations and some super secret work that will fry your audience.

I think Vlad was, at some point, working out a Tarot card version of UTA. It sounded deeply intriguing.

I am still hoping we can get a manuscript going...

Y'all have given me some wonderful creative thinking on alternative approaches to UTA....I was limiting my own thinking by keeping UTA an a betting mode only...

It does change my thinking on the fundraiser, but UTA might just be a force to be used to raise awareness about homeless kids....must think on that.

Not familiar with the Rosetta Shuffle; gonna have to look that up. Thanks for the great thinking gents! Best, Bob

An additional manuscript for UTA?

Is this something Martyn has indicated he's undertaking.......or is it a purchaser driven project?

I got this idea from an Aldo Colombini DVD. If the spectator cannot do a riffle shuffle, get the person to place the two packets of cards with the short ends facing each other. Then ribbon spread the packets across the table and just push the two rows of cards into one single line and reform the cards into one pack.

Willy.

Hi silverking,

I floated this by Martyn on the open Café a while back and he seemed to be supportive.

As we have not corresponded on this proposed project in recent weeks, I think we should wait for his return from Africa and let him comment on how he envisages the structure and chapter contributions.

I already offered to give him my scripts and other UTA work should the manuscript move forward.

I have collected a whole bunch of scripts for Robert E. Neale's effect "Sole Survivor," including four or five different ones from Bob Neale himself. It is very instructive to see how different magicians adapted the effect to fit their personalities. (For example, my own script, "The Last Word," is a piece that blends Bob Neale's effect with Shakespeare.)

I'd be happy to offer my favorite "Up the Ante" script for this collection. My take on Martyn's effect is not a betting game at all, and I think other magicians might find it to be entertaining.

Barry, having the privilege of seeing your script, it's absolutely brilliant, especially for my purposes in wishing to avoid the betting routine. I've chatted with Vlad, Panlives and the Captain over the course of the last several months here about how much I'm enamored with UTA and I believe the Captain his-self would embrace your take on it! Best, Bob

Morning....afternoon.....evening....err, what time of day is it?! Am just up from an all night return from Africa and pretty jet-lagged!

Am very interested in the idea of expanding the work into a compendium of ideas so please feel free to send me what you have! Panlives, Barry, Vlad, Bob Neale et al.....bring it on!! I would need to see what we are looking at and many of you have my e-mail address; if not then pm me for it and let me see what it is that we have to start with. A worthwhile project, methinks.

Best,

Martyn.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Posted: Nov 11, 2010 6:17am
BTW, was sat in a bar in Accra having a pint with a couple of crews and I performed UTA for the other crews captain; despite him holding the deck, cutting it, dealing it and shuffling it he said "deck switch. Must be! Can't do it any other way!!" Now I was gobsmacked that a layperson had even heard the term 'deckswitch' but reassured him that it must have been one hell of a switch when it could only have occurred in his hands...!!!

Cheers

Martyn