I was performing the Invisible deck and at the end of the routine, the spectator asked the inevitable "How did you do that?" Now I knew from a couple of comments he made during the routine that the card he named was his favorite card, so I told him that I had read his mind when he walked in and discovered what his favorite card was and put that one backwards before I ever began the trick. (Boy am I full of it).

Well, his friend, a less, shall we say, cooporative audience member (one step shy of a heckler)piped up, "Oh really. Well what's MY favorite card? Here, I'll whisper it to him." The challenge was set, and I got that feeling like I couldn't lose (you know that feeling? When you get a rush and you KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will perform perfectly and amaze everybody in the room). I looked at him appraisingly, and said, "I'd say you're favorite card is the Jack of Diamonds." I have no idea how I knew, but I did. (Though I admit I had a backup plan in case my guess was incorrect). His jaw dropped. He was all for trying it again with a selection by a third person in their group, which I way-laid by saying, "Nah, he doesn't have a favorite card, so this wouldn't work with him." Now that part was hedging my bets, because how many people really have a favorite playing card? (Plus I figured I'd quit while I was ahead) But jaws dropped again.

The cool part about this, which I was thinking about, is that more than once people have described to me what a magician did, and I knew from the description that it couldn't be totally accurate. (An example I heard about here on the Café was a woman who was describing a guy who did sponge balls, put one in each of her hands, and one jumped so they were together. The person who heard this knew the magician in question and asked him, and he had performed the usual routine, which is putting one ball in the spectator's hand and one in the magician's and they both jump to the spectator's. The woman remembered it incorrectly, but as more amazing).

Well, if those guys ever meet another magician and describe the effect "I thought of a card and the magician knew what it was. Period," that other magician will assume they're remembering incorrectly, when actually that's exactly what happened.

Hi JJ

Fantastic story and don't you just love when the magic gods are smiling on you that day and for whatever reason everyone just clicks? You had one of those days it seems like. I liked hearing about it.
C