Hahaha..to the point !!!

You must either perform for people with terrible attention spans...or incontinence!
You might want to change up your residency.

Pegasus you nailed it. Much better for the performer to have in mind that the audience can be bored than that people are thirsty for our card tricks. I love card tricks and Iam bored as well with this procedure.

It might be acceptable as a card trick for those who like effects where the cards are constantly counted and recounted and put into the card box for no reason, but as a card effect for mentalists -or even as mental magic - it’s pretty dreadful, and there’s no way to dress that up without adding even more procedure. And that’s the last thing it needs.

*smh*

This thread seems to be full of people suggesting they lack the skills to take a method and do any work to either it or the presentation to make it work for them!
Too ready to accept it as presented to them.

Do all you guys copy the performers who sell you tricks?
I bought a Rick Lax effect, I'll perform it just like Rick Lax!
I bought a John Bannon effect, I'll perform this just like John Bannon!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there are no bad tricks..only bad magicians.
I'll also add once again that I don't think Rick's demo of this shows it in the best light.
He REALLY draws it out....and with very little presentation or more importantly, justification.

It's not a great demo, I'll give you all that, but the method you get works, does what it says, and isn't half as bad as you're all making it out to be.
You either don't own the trick so don't know the details of the method, or you're lacking the thought or energy to truly put creative juices into the things you feel are shortcomings with what you've seen.

If it's not for you just move on.

ManchurianMan if there are not bad tricks why Copperfield review thousand of effects to select one that it seems more clean, more natural, more straightforward and finally more magical?. Of course his powerful persona can improve the effect but why anyone wants to start with a dull routine?

Because "Dull" is subjective.

Utter meaningless nonsense. There are thousands of bad tricks. This is one of them.

That’s your opinion! There are many many tricks far worse than this, this is quite a decent little effect

Agree with Cardbiker. This is no worse than some of Cameron Francis's recent offerings, or even some of the Bannon move zero stuff.

Guys,

Yesterday I performed this 3 times to 3 different spectators, and they really liked this effect.

Some of the people even got to witness it a second time, so I had to make sure they wouldnt see "the move" if you could even call it that.

I have added a subtlety that makes "the move" invisible and actually looks like you did nothing.

If you want to know and own this, send me a PM, I will fill you in on the details.

Its the subtleties and routining that makes an effect stand out, as well as your own personality, and the way its presented.

At first, I didn't think this effect could fly, but after having performed it 3 times under fire at a bbq last night, and even had some people witness it a second time, I can say that this was worth the mere asking price that Rick Lax is asking for.

Its a keeper!

Alex Alejandro

BTW If any of you are going to Magi-Fest in January, I will be around sessioning items from a new book I am translating for another magician, and would like to meet some of you there.

Hello,

This is a full performance of this trick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHwtb644Ns

Nice try...

Lax has had the video deleted. No surprise really.

If you want to speed this up you can always take the cards and spread them out on the table and instruct the spec to see which card is in the numbered location as you turn your back and you can even have them point to it so others can see the selection. Then you gather the cards do what needs to be done and you did it in much less time. Also YOU will NOT be the one slowing it up at all and all the attention is now focused on their choice. I too have had great reactions to this as described by BMWGUY and agree this is a great value. Hope this helps.

Good magic to all,


Eric

I would like to compare this and another version which is also impromptu (borrowed shuffled deck) which is from Barrie Richardson (it's called 'card at any number'). There is a similar trick in Jheffsmind from Jheff where one move is changed to another one (it's called 'Double-Barreled').
The "move" in both versions (Richardson/Jheff) is something that every cardician should know and is not difficult to achieve. This has the additional advantage that not everyone will present this version and you will not be facing the competition of the average teen for this trick (I rarely present automatic tricks for this reason).
This trick also has the advantage that you don't even need to know the number of the spectator before you start counting for the final reveal (counting has to be done by the magician but is really really fair and super easy to do).
For those who know the Richardson's version, I replaced the p**k by a subtle Marlo's k** c**d which is totally hands off and does not require a table (I cannot remember how it's called, but John Carey shows this in his 'Handle with Carey' DVD I think). Even though I knew the k** c**d principle, it got me because it's so sneaky in this version.
I now ended up with a truly impromptu version which has a couple of moves/principles and is something that I enjoy performing because it's well structured, is quite direct and feels more unique.

I showed the Lax and Jheff/Richardson's effects to several spectators and they unanimously liked the Jheff/Richardson modified version over the Rick Lax's version because the version I perform has no counting procedure for the selection and is far easier to follow. It is direct to the point without any distraction.
I also noticed that the Rick Lax's version doesn't fly well when done with one spectator only because there is too much for him to remember: the card, the 1st number and the 2nd number (owners will know what I mean) and they often ask about what number I am talking about.

Rick Lax's effect is not a bad one but I am still strongly recommending the Jheff/Richardson's one if you want to perform a true ACAAN (I know, Rick Kax's effect is not an ACAAN but some people bought it thinking it was one so this is why I am comparing them).

Gaijin, thanks for the kind words about my routine.

(You may want to check out Acumental, which is also in my book. It looks so easy and obvious, and it is to magicians, but it absolutely fries laymen. I actually prefer this one over Double-Barreled, though I do like both.)

- Jheff

Reactions are what matters. To my surprise, I've received some great reactions from this. Even those who speculate it's an auto-working 'numbers' trick still can't decipher how exactly it works.

I agree that many counting tricks can be dull. But this one is dressed up nicely enough whereby any reasonably competent performer should be able to make this entertaining. I will admit that this isn't going to be performed in my paid work but I have been enjoying performing it in casual situations and the reactions have been excellent.

That effect is in Karl Fulves Self-Working Card Tricks. It is a little different but similar.
Allen