Real workers?

wZEnigma · Feb 27, 2012

I had two chances to perform recently for friends of mine in an informal setting with just a deck of cards, nothing else. However, upon trying to shuffle through my arsenal of tricks iPod touch-style, I only performed a handful. True workers - Angle Zero, Ref4m, Whack Your Pack - only survived my multi-angle, spectator-friendly conditions.

So, people of Theory11, what workers do you have? What tricks constantly amaze people and can be done with little to no setup using just a deck of cards - or whatever you have, a coin, packet of cards, etc - that really stun people? I want to go in guns blazing. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Ian

D ICE R · Feb 27, 2012

Depends on the circumstance, as far as real world workers I use every performance I go to the list is very very short.

Bob Cassidy's Name Place routine with different presentation.
T 4 2 by Docc Hilford
A good peek and reveal
Prevaricator and which hand games
And the first and favourites from a recent release.

Basically that is all I perform if I am performing close up mentalism

My stage show would jot really be considered a worker however the whole thing is always ready to go at a moments notice.

I also have a good hour long stand up show that can be done wit a borrowed shuffled deck.

AKong · Feb 27, 2012

The classic two card transposition in the spectators hand using a duplicate card and two DLs is great. Fries them every time, for some reason. One of my best tricks.

danielmontagne · Feb 27, 2012

try dvds from:
Paul Gordon
John Carney
Lee Smith

Lyle Borders · Feb 27, 2012

One of my standby tricks is Lapse by Daniel Madison (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2GCpIgip5s)

It FRIES people. They don't see it coming, and it hits them like a train. They leave not sure what just happened, but positive that you are the devil. It is on d's Dangerous:Mystique DVD here at theory11.com.

Just my two cents.

L

wZEnigma · Feb 27, 2012

I actually have that in his One lecture notes but completely forgot about it. I'm gonna have to look into that one (no pun intended). I'm generally a fan of D+M's stuff. Thanks for the request, Sir Borders.

AdamF · Feb 27, 2012

With what I've got on me a good coin flurry goes a long way. So does uncanny penetration followed by touch if I have rubber bands. With a deck of cards my go to is "secrets" by Dai Vernon or a good force and reveal. But my all time favorite is recap by Greg Wilson. It is so much fun to perform and there is a ton of room for presentation.

Pete Pridanonda · Feb 27, 2012

If you're willing not to limit yourself to just cards and coins, the rising okito voodoo doll is a great effect that I perform all the time and gets great reactions from audience of all ages. Be sure to practice this effect though, as of right now, I think I'm the only one with the best handling for this effect.
If you want cards, then the ambitious card and biddle trick would be my first choice. If you do have time for a more elaborate routine, Dance of the Devious by Jack Carpenter and the three card monte are something that I perform.
Hope this helps.

WitchDocIsIn · Feb 27, 2012

petecardmagic21 said:
If you're willing not to limit yourself to just cards and coins, the rising okito voodoo doll is a great effect that I perform all the time and gets great reactions from audience of all ages. Be sure to practice this effect though, as of right now, I think I'm the only one with the best handling for this effect.

Are you saying that you've practiced it until your handling is the cleanest you've seen, or are you saying that your presentation of the Okito Voodoo doll is the best out there? Because if it's the last one, that's a very bold claim.

For cards it's all the tricks I've been doing for years, mostly. A mind read, a sandwich transposition, a multiple selection inversion, Chicago Opener, ACR. I'm working some Tony Chang material into regular rotation as well, and I'm considering getting Fade up to performance level so that I can open with that, but I'm not sure yet.

For non-card work I do a coin bend that I've developed for several years. I can get anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes out of that, depending on how far I want to take it. Metal bending is something I do pretty often these days. Various peeks for mind reading routines. Coin through table. Various impromptu PK techniques.

It also depends on if I'm doing serious performances for prospective clients, or if I'm just doing magic for friends. When I'm just goofing off with friends I'll do more silly stuff, like Doc Eason's 'All Screwed Up' and an 8-ball production from my wallet.

I wouldn't worry too much about knowing a ton of 'workers'. Learn a few and do them a lot. I would say that, among those who see me perform regularly, I'm known for three things. My coin bend, my card-mind-reading, and my PK (which is all the same to a spectator, even though I use many methods). Though I can do a half hour of card work off the top of my head, and I can improvise an hour or so with what's in my pockets usually, but those three effects have gotten me my reputation and are the ones I consider to be 'bullet proof'.

Pete Pridanonda · Feb 27, 2012

ChristopherT said:
Are you saying that you've practiced it until your handling is the cleanest you've seen, or are you saying that your presentation of the Okito Voodoo doll is the best out there? Because if it's the last one, that's a very bold claim.

I'm talking about the handling, not the presentation. Of course, there are a lot of magicians that I've seen with a great presentation for this effect but their handlings looks very unnatural and clearly needs a lot more practice.
In other words, I can make the doll rise up higher than anyone else without bending my fingers and showing obvious tensions and bends in the hands. I have yet to see anyone who can perform this effect as well as I do.

wZEnigma · Feb 27, 2012

There seems to have been a debate sparked! xD I've been looking at XRAY by Ben Harris, any thoughts?

The Biddle Trick seems a bit lengthy, but it does get good results. I need to do that again soon! xD

Randy · Feb 27, 2012

ChristopherT said:
Are you saying that you've practiced it until your handling is the cleanest you've seen, or are you saying that your presentation of the Okito Voodoo doll is the best out there? Because if it's the last one, that's a very bold claim.

For cards it's all the tricks I've been doing for years, mostly. A mind read, a sandwich transposition, a multiple selection inversion, Chicago Opener, ACR. I'm working some Tony Chang material into regular rotation as well, and I'm considering getting Fade up to performance level so that I can open with that, but I'm not sure yet.

For non-card work I do a coin bend that I've developed for several years. I can get anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes out of that, depending on how far I want to take it. Metal bending is something I do pretty often these days. Various peeks for mind reading routines. Coin through table. Various impromptu PK techniques.

It also depends on if I'm doing serious performances for prospective clients, or if I'm just doing magic for friends. When I'm just goofing off with friends I'll do more silly stuff, like Doc Eason's 'All Screwed Up' and an 8-ball production from my wallet.

I wouldn't worry too much about knowing a ton of 'workers'. Learn a few and do them a lot. I would say that, among those who see me perform regularly, I'm known for three things. My coin bend, my card-mind-reading, and my PK (which is all the same to a spectator, even though I use many methods). Though I can do a half hour of card work off the top of my head, and I can improvise an hour or so with what's in my pockets usually, but those three effects have gotten me my reputation and are the ones I consider to be 'bullet proof'.

it's just that the guy is pretty much obsessed with it to the point of that every time he makes a post, it's about how awesome or great the effect is, and really if you've seen his video of him doing it. The effect itself is pretty mediocre and corny, specially with no character or context behind it. It's less of a "OMG that is impossible!" situation and more of a "O...K... neat I guess. whatever." type of effect.

as for workable type effects. I'd say it depends on the situation you are performing it. Some commercial effects work well in this situation and others don't. Personally, I tend to favor things like Chicago Surprise, My Opening Act, Stand Up Monte, Memory Test and maybe CC5's Color changing deck as well as Torn and restored business card.

Luis Vega · Feb 27, 2012

I just realized..there has been years since I did an 2CM...

Pete Pridanonda · Feb 28, 2012

Randy said:
it's just that the guy is pretty much obsessed with it to the point of that every time he makes a post, it's about how awesome or great the effect is, and really if you've seen his video of him doing it. The effect itself is pretty mediocre and corny, specially with no character or context behind it. It's less of a "OMG that is impossible!" situation and more of a "O...K... neat I guess. whatever." type of effect.

as for workable type effects. I'd say it depends on the situation you are performing it. Some commercial effects work well in this situation and others don't. Personally, I tend to favor things like Chicago Surprise, My Opening Act, Stand Up Monte, Memory Test and maybe CC5's Color changing deck as well as Torn and restored business card.

May I ask which video of mine have you seen of me perfoming this effect? I agree with you that in my earlier videos that I posted (September and October), my presentation for this effect is very mediocre and I present this effect too much as a trick. Looking back at them, I'm planning to delete those videos since I'm not satisfied with either my handling or my presentation. If you look at my later videos of me perfroming this effect, you can see that I've changed the presentation for this effect and practice this effect until the handling is pretty much completely natural. The reason I wanted to bring this effect to attention is because every person that I've seen perfrom this effect perform it badly in terms of handling, and I don't want my audiences to go searching on youtube and see all those bad performances and then figure out how it's done.

Pete Pridanonda · Feb 28, 2012

wZEnigma said:
There seems to have been a debate sparked! xD I've been looking at XRAY by Ben Harris, any thoughts?

The Biddle Trick seems a bit lengthy, but it does get good results. I need to do that again soon! xD

X-ray is a good effect as well, but I'd recommend the invisible deck. Try both of these effects out and you'll see that both of this effect pretty much elicit the same reactions. I like X-ray but never perform it at a paying gig since there's a chance of this effect going wrong.