Scary! First time asking for feed back in public!

[Josh Burch]

Hey everyone! I'm really nervous about this I love card magic and have been performing for years but I rarely ask for criticism from my peers so please don't harsh me too bad but let me know what you think.

This is my own ace cutting sleight. I have used it for the past three or so years as the opening to my ace cutting routine. I don't ever cut to all for aces using the same method in my performances but right now I'm working on tightening the bolts on each phase. Tell me what you think of the sleight and what looks awkward or could be improved upon.
Thanks,
Josh

[video=youtube;IPUYHSMECFA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPUYHSMECFA&feature=g-upl[/video]

 

[Chr!s]

That looks really nice man! You got chops!

 

[RealityOne]

Josh:

Looks pretty good, but the rotation of the deck end for end after the shuffle and between the cuts is somewhat distracting. Is is just too much movement and it looks like you are doing "something" even though you aren't.

I would also use the table to make the effect look cleaner. That is, put the deck down, take your hands away from the deck, pause (some patter would be good) and then do the reveal. The audience will remember the image of the deck being on the table and your hand cleanly turning over the top card. What this does is it makes the cuts look more like a shuffle rather than a method of locating the card. More importantly, it puts time between the move and the reveal.

I would insert a reveal from the middle, just cut the deck to the table and step it so you can cut to the ace in the middle of the deck.

From a technical perspective, your overhand shuffle could be faster. The major thing I don't like is the riffling up the side of the deck.

 

[themontemaster]

Your overhand shuffle was a little sloppy. Less flailing, more disciplined up and down motion. As far as the production I agree with RealityOne. A production from the middle would make it look better and I think a false shuffle couldn't hurt. A solid push through or maybe a Zarrow if you're clever enough would do it. Food for thought....Crimped Cards?....

 

[Josh Burch]

Your overhand shuffle was a little sloppy. Less flailing, more disciplined up and down motion. As far as the production I agree with RealityOne. A production from the middle would make it look better and I think a false shuffle couldn't hurt. A solid push through or maybe a Zarrow if you're clever enough would do it. Food for thought....Crimped Cards?....

Hey guys thanks for your feedback.

I performed a sloppier overhand shuffle in my attempt to "not look anymore clever" than needs be. I can see how it looks out of place in the handling as I begin cutting in a very precise manner. I was trying to integrate a more natural handling but in this routine it looks awkward. It's good that you pointed that out.

David, Turning the deck end for end was a dumb decision and I've nixed it. It began as a habit and turned into a bad one :/

My current handling that I use for performance is a mixture of Marlo, Vernon and Erdnase. This video was made more to illustrate a new(to me at least) ace cutting method. I have integrated it into my routine. Thanks for your help guys