How does one avoid the spectators incessantly burning the cards? Anything that can be done in this situation?

Look at them and ask them a question.

I have employed this method in the past, but I have had spectators who have (still) looked at the cards after me asking them a question and such. I am referring to spectators who never look up from the cards even when asking them a direct question or when it seems absolutely appropriate or necessary to look up.

Stop. Stare at them until they meet your eyes. This can be quite entertaining in itself.

Find better spectators. It's supposed to be an entertainment, not an endurance test

A lot of this is going to be based on your performing style - many seasoned performers work their patter, their attitude and style, etc. in a way that opens people up, gets them to relax, and to like you. If you can do that, it will usually take care of the problem (of course, this takes a lot of work!). What the others above me suggest is all good advice. I'll also add that it helps to create moments of relaxation into your patter and routine when you need misdirection - don't find the beat, create one from the tension and relaxation you build into the trick.

If they consistently look at the cards or your hands, it's because that's the most interesting thing to them at the moment. You have to give them something else more interesting than that to occupy their attention.

Thanks for all of the responses!

May I suggest that you purchase the books of wonder. The first 41 pages address this very topic. Also, never leave home without a fire extinguisher.

They're looking because you are. The focus of your effect is most likely on the cards still. Relax, talk to them. They will look where you look.

Also, I second the Books of Wonder. Tommy's thinking on misdirection and the ricochet phenomenon is second to none. They are a must read along with Strong Magic by Ortiz.

Do a non burnable trick.

I use pepper-spray. Works every time.

I'll have to give that a try!

Kjellstrom - I used it with great success already! XD

Take away their matches.

If you are competent with you skills, why is this a problem?

Not every move is invisible even when perfected...

Don't hand them a book/box of matches. or a lighter? Seriously though the suggestions that you have been given are all very valid.

Hi W,

I love Max Malini's advice and it's quite simple: "wait."

I think that DLs/MLs are mistakenly labeled as beginner's sleights. I thought I was alone in this opinion until I read Michael Close's thoughts on DL/ML. I have seen magicians execute flawless passes, hops, seconds, centers, bottoms, Greeks, and yet their DL/ML are horrific and I think that it's because the DL/ML is dismissed as an "easy" move. I contend that it's not because the move is being executed under fire. There is movement and eyes are drawn to movement - one of the oldest rules in magic.

I like what Kabbalah wrote and while I'm not implying you are incompetent, could it be that when you started your journey you too had believed that DL/ML was easy? If you have Michael Close's Workers series, read what he writes about the DL/ML and why he believes that most magicians execute the sleight very poorly. He writes that he has seen very few magicians execute it properly. I may take some flack for this but I believe that DL/ML requires as much attention as sleights though of as "advanced."

I'm wracking my two neurons trying to remember who wrote an essay about the difference between overt and covert sleights. It may have been Roberto Giobbi but I can't remember. Anyhow, DL/ML is an overt move whereas a pass is a covert move. Think about the covers for passes including riffling, jiggling, turning the pack over, etc. The larger obvious motion covers/makes covert the actual move. The DL/ML doesn't have this advantage.

What I did when learning was to practice turning singles - the same strategy one would use to learn false deals. Additionally, I consciously created an internal belief state - to borrow a phrase from Wayne Whiting and Terry LaGerould that when I was executing DL/ML I believed I was turning a single. That belief state and making DL/ML look like a single made all of the difference for me such that speccy's can burn me all day. But back to Malini. He understood that no movement means that the spectators WILL look up. It's a powerful form of directed attention/misdirection IMHO.

So you have at least two approaches to the problem - three if you count the elegant pepper spray solution which Ed Marlo actually published 38 variants. Interesting side note: in Hugard's Magic Monthly, John Scarne discussed the top change and published one called "While Burned." Scarne said that his technique could be executed while the deck is being burned. So, don't feel badly; if Scarne was concerned about burning and let's face it, he was d*****d good, then you're in good company.

Best,
Vlad

PS: Your nickname is far too long.