WOW--I just had my first impromptu performance, and at a frat party too, just a little bit ago. I was so incredibly nervous despite the fact that I'd been practicing for weeks and weeks, and always carried a deck (or two) on hand expecting to be ready to perform. Either way, it worked out incredibly well.

I was standing around, tossing a deck of cards around in my hands, when a friend of mine asked me if I did any card tricks. Did I? Time to perform...

(Not sure what the rules are on exposure here, lemme know if I need to edit anything out.) I started off with a false shuffle, then went through with "Here Then There". That blew them away, and the crowd got a bit bigger as they asked me to do it again. No repeated tricks, naturally, but I'd stacked the deck for "Be Honest, Which Is It?" and went through with the routine. It was so poorly lit, that I could barely be sure of my own lifts (but it was a huge help in concealing the TL and the noise covered up the TC like nothing else.) I even had them confused as to which cards were in the hand--even I didn't think my patter was going to be so effective! Every time I asked which card was where, they had to pause, look around, and consult with each other. "All right, turn them over and let's see" I said--AGAIN! Blown away when the queens had suddenly become aces.

They asked for one more, so I went into an ambitious card routine. I wasn't about to get off scot-free though--I did the Marlo tilt to lose the card, but my hands were shaking like crazy and I blew the DL (I picked up three instead!) I panicked for a sec, but asked "This isn't your card, right? Well watch." Tried again, and phew. Went through the routine (5 short phases) and drove them nuts.

They wanted more, so I offered them one more trick with the IDeck I carried on me. I asked him to think of a card as I pulled the deck from my pocket. He thought of it, and I'd always been concerned that the spectator would try and not tell me the card so I'd come up with the line "All right, tell us all so we know what card you thought of." But when I used it, he whispered it to every spectator! Rats! I convinced him "It's ok to tell me, I need to know if I got it right" or something similar, and he didn't seem to mind. Went through the routine (my separating of the cards wasn't TOO smooth since my hands were so slippery, but I think they were all pretty sauced from the alcohol there and didn't notice.) Either way, I pulled out the one face-down card, and that did it--they went crazy.

But what a RUSH! I was so nervous, my hands could barely stay still to pull off the lifts, yet I managed to pull it off and impress myself upon a few people. What a payoff! Now the problem is, they want to see even more in the future--I've got to get learning!

Well done.

Paula

Sounds great.

Kevin Courtney
:kewl:

That is the kind of stuff that gets you hooked...It certainly got me.

Great

Lynn,

Congrats! I think you're off to a great start. What is especially good is that you experienced a mistake "on stage" and covered it well. The audience can't tell. That happened to me in my early days when a false shuffle went awry and the top card became the second card. I just got in a girls face and waved the top card to her. "you don't like this card do you?"

"no" she replied,

"then lets burry it!" (if she has said yes, I would have told her to hold it for me!)

Top card back on top.

Now, pardon me for using the "P" word, but now it's time to find someone who will pay for your hard earned skills.

Keep it going.