Recently i performed bad influence for my sister and when i handed her the deck, she knew abt the cop.Does anyone knows how to lessen the suspicion of using 1 hand??
Bad Influence
- Thread starter BlazeCinder
- Start date
you te same had that you coped it with to hand her the deck holding something in a dirty hand gives the illusion of being clean
Other than what theoryGV has said, I would suggest pointing. In a cop, you will be suspicious of yourself if whether you could really do this, pointing with the hand, but kill that suspicion and point with it.
You will notice a cop allows you the freedom to do just that. Of course, practice in a mirror, a cop should only allow you to point straight at the deck, with the card's tail facing you.
Also, giving yourself reason to point. Tell them to pick out any card in the deck, or even shuffle the deck.
This all culminates to what TheoryGV said. Using a hand that has hidden scum, gives the illusion of it being clean.
Peaceza.
nice idea shimalucius thats neat....
or just dont pay any attention to it and look to your specs eye.....
neco....
or just dont pay any attention to it and look to your specs eye.....
neco....
Holdon, wouldn't that expose the card for awhile?
You see, for my situation lots of people around me are very observant, so is there any other way to solve this problem other than pointing?
Frosty =)
You see, for my situation lots of people around me are very observant, so is there any other way to solve this problem other than pointing?
Frosty =)
first of all as others have already said, just forget about it. if you think and act like you are completely clean, the spectators will believe that you are holding nothing.
Another thing you can do is when you are waiting/standing/e.t.c try to have your hands in the same way you would if you did not had a card copped. I always ,when standing still(even if i am not going to do magic) , will position my hands in the same way i would if i had a card coped. I use this move a lot and when having the card in cop nobody notices(not even my friends),they just suppose that this is the way i stand. thats the beaty of this move, you can be very natural with it.
Another thing you can do is when you are waiting/standing/e.t.c try to have your hands in the same way you would if you did not had a card copped. I always ,when standing still(even if i am not going to do magic) , will position my hands in the same way i would if i had a card coped. I use this move a lot and when having the card in cop nobody notices(not even my friends),they just suppose that this is the way i stand. thats the beaty of this move, you can be very natural with it.
I've used the cop performing bad influence with spectators in a 180 degree arc in front of me, it can work. It works because no-one's expected to stare at your hands. Firstly, the spectator should not know that the trick has started while you are copping the card. In one or two instances I've actually approached a spectator with a card already copped, that's an idea for you guys in general.
The fact is that everyone follows human instinct - and hence the basic rules of misdirection. If you were standing a metre away from you, and tried to keep staring at my hands and follow them around no matter what for a few minutes (the duration of Bad Influence), I guarantee I could get you to look away. I mean, just try and stare at something for three minutes - sooner or later you'll get the urge to look at the clock and see if it has in fact been three minutes.
So, Blaze, let's look at your problem for a sec. You copped a card, and you handed her the deck, and she realised what was going on? I don't think that's an issue of just pointing with your other hand. Picture this: I meet you on the street, and offer to do a trick, and you say yes. I then hand you the deck. Please really picture this short scenario, just for two seconds, imagine a guy doing this.
Tell me: did the guy hand you the deck with both hands? I'd hope not.
And tell me this: in your imagination, did the guy have his other hand pointing hovering close to and pointing to the deck? Possibly, but more likely not.
It's entirely natural to just hand the spectator the deck with one hand and let the other one drop. So, there could be any number of reasons why she noticed the cop. It's hard to say exactly which one it was, but I'll list all of the ones I can think of and discuss them briefly.
1. She noticed your get ready. The only time I've been caught copping was when I held the card in get ready too long. Just be careful that your spec doesn't see over the deck to the copped card below. A tilt will fix this for specs in front of you, an early cop or one on the left of your body (your hand, if you cop in left hand, will block it from the right).
2. You dropped your hand too quick. I don't know about you, but I just scratched my neck. When my hand dropped from my neck, it dropped slowly. Tension will happen in your copped arm whether you like it or not. It's natural to try and drop it real fast to your side to hide that card. Resist. Two tips here: Firstly, drop your arm from your shoulder, not your elbow. Secondly, don't move your arm from the deck to your side, let the muscles go, and let your arm swing slightly. We move our arms when we have a purpose with that arm - but we drop our arm when we're just done with that arm. There's an important distinction there.
3. Your arm is too tense. If your arm with cop is pressed against your leg other than gently brushing it, your arm is probably too tense. If it is slightly behind your leg, it's too tense. If your elbow is locked, it's too tense. Put on a singlet, stand in front of a mirror, and drop your arm to your side - if you can see clear muscle definition, your arm is also too tense.
4. You pivot your hand too quickly after it leaves the deck. As soon as you hand the deck over to the specs, it's very natural to want to turn your hand very quick. The motion however should be brief, and fast, but not sudden. I have a tendency to overcompensate and turn my wrist too much. In fact, it barely needs rotating to hide the card, so you should try and be confident with it. If you're with just one person, you can just say "Take this" as soon as you begin the motion of giving them the cards. That'll force them to look at what they're taking. If it's for a group of people, lift it slightly higher, and you can try moving it around and asking "Who wants it first?"
5. The angle of your hand was off. This is just a mirror thing, knowing how much to turn your wrist. Also, you can try holding your thumb against your first finger - this can hide a gap between the two which occasionally can flash the card.
6. You're just generally acting suspicious. It doesn't have to be anything specifically that you did wrong. But if you looked like you were doing a move, that automatically alerts the spectators - and believe me, the vultures can smell. Basically, it's just a thing that you'll need to practice, being natural. If you hand them the deck, and you look suspicious - how many moves can you do? They'll deduce that you kept something, there's only so many places your spectator's mind will go, and any of them really will spoil the trick - knowing something's up is as bad as knowing exactly what happened - and in my opinion is even worse, because it results in "You hid the card up your sleeve and then dropped it down your shirt, picked it out, pickpocketed my wallet, and that's how the card ended up in my pocket" type explanations which are just irritating.
If there's any possible reason for flashing I haven't covered, I'll gladly do a little more thinking and write on them too, I think this should cover the main and most likely reasons you flashed...
And for frost... Yeah, look, it really depends on your performance situation mate, I mean, if you're just doing it for one or two people, you really shouldn't have a problem with flashing if you just get the move down solid and act natural. If you're trying to do it 180 arc like me (which in hindsight was actually stupid)... Good luck, act natural, keep the focus of the group off you, keep it in the centre, and keep everyone talking and interacting with each other - point out something about how the spectator holds the deck or something. The point of the trick is that you're not doing anything, so the specs should be focussed on each other; focus their attention in the middle of the arc in front of you, or on the deck, but not on any one person too much. In this specific case, don't fight to keep the audience's attention as much as you normally would, let the specs do their own thing, let them talk and dictate the flow, and just keep it in mild control. Do you understand what I'm getting at? I get incomprehensible sometimes ^.^
That is just for this specific situation incidentally, about spectator's attention - it's ok to be more casual and less focussed. What you'll lose in pure reaction will be compensated for by the group's reaction playing off each other so you're not losing anything - only for a situation where you can't completely hide the cop whatever you do, though.
Hope this helped... Someone...
The fact is that everyone follows human instinct - and hence the basic rules of misdirection. If you were standing a metre away from you, and tried to keep staring at my hands and follow them around no matter what for a few minutes (the duration of Bad Influence), I guarantee I could get you to look away. I mean, just try and stare at something for three minutes - sooner or later you'll get the urge to look at the clock and see if it has in fact been three minutes.
So, Blaze, let's look at your problem for a sec. You copped a card, and you handed her the deck, and she realised what was going on? I don't think that's an issue of just pointing with your other hand. Picture this: I meet you on the street, and offer to do a trick, and you say yes. I then hand you the deck. Please really picture this short scenario, just for two seconds, imagine a guy doing this.
Tell me: did the guy hand you the deck with both hands? I'd hope not.
And tell me this: in your imagination, did the guy have his other hand pointing hovering close to and pointing to the deck? Possibly, but more likely not.
It's entirely natural to just hand the spectator the deck with one hand and let the other one drop. So, there could be any number of reasons why she noticed the cop. It's hard to say exactly which one it was, but I'll list all of the ones I can think of and discuss them briefly.
1. She noticed your get ready. The only time I've been caught copping was when I held the card in get ready too long. Just be careful that your spec doesn't see over the deck to the copped card below. A tilt will fix this for specs in front of you, an early cop or one on the left of your body (your hand, if you cop in left hand, will block it from the right).
2. You dropped your hand too quick. I don't know about you, but I just scratched my neck. When my hand dropped from my neck, it dropped slowly. Tension will happen in your copped arm whether you like it or not. It's natural to try and drop it real fast to your side to hide that card. Resist. Two tips here: Firstly, drop your arm from your shoulder, not your elbow. Secondly, don't move your arm from the deck to your side, let the muscles go, and let your arm swing slightly. We move our arms when we have a purpose with that arm - but we drop our arm when we're just done with that arm. There's an important distinction there.
3. Your arm is too tense. If your arm with cop is pressed against your leg other than gently brushing it, your arm is probably too tense. If it is slightly behind your leg, it's too tense. If your elbow is locked, it's too tense. Put on a singlet, stand in front of a mirror, and drop your arm to your side - if you can see clear muscle definition, your arm is also too tense.
4. You pivot your hand too quickly after it leaves the deck. As soon as you hand the deck over to the specs, it's very natural to want to turn your hand very quick. The motion however should be brief, and fast, but not sudden. I have a tendency to overcompensate and turn my wrist too much. In fact, it barely needs rotating to hide the card, so you should try and be confident with it. If you're with just one person, you can just say "Take this" as soon as you begin the motion of giving them the cards. That'll force them to look at what they're taking. If it's for a group of people, lift it slightly higher, and you can try moving it around and asking "Who wants it first?"
5. The angle of your hand was off. This is just a mirror thing, knowing how much to turn your wrist. Also, you can try holding your thumb against your first finger - this can hide a gap between the two which occasionally can flash the card.
6. You're just generally acting suspicious. It doesn't have to be anything specifically that you did wrong. But if you looked like you were doing a move, that automatically alerts the spectators - and believe me, the vultures can smell. Basically, it's just a thing that you'll need to practice, being natural. If you hand them the deck, and you look suspicious - how many moves can you do? They'll deduce that you kept something, there's only so many places your spectator's mind will go, and any of them really will spoil the trick - knowing something's up is as bad as knowing exactly what happened - and in my opinion is even worse, because it results in "You hid the card up your sleeve and then dropped it down your shirt, picked it out, pickpocketed my wallet, and that's how the card ended up in my pocket" type explanations which are just irritating.
If there's any possible reason for flashing I haven't covered, I'll gladly do a little more thinking and write on them too, I think this should cover the main and most likely reasons you flashed...
And for frost... Yeah, look, it really depends on your performance situation mate, I mean, if you're just doing it for one or two people, you really shouldn't have a problem with flashing if you just get the move down solid and act natural. If you're trying to do it 180 arc like me (which in hindsight was actually stupid)... Good luck, act natural, keep the focus of the group off you, keep it in the centre, and keep everyone talking and interacting with each other - point out something about how the spectator holds the deck or something. The point of the trick is that you're not doing anything, so the specs should be focussed on each other; focus their attention in the middle of the arc in front of you, or on the deck, but not on any one person too much. In this specific case, don't fight to keep the audience's attention as much as you normally would, let the specs do their own thing, let them talk and dictate the flow, and just keep it in mild control. Do you understand what I'm getting at? I get incomprehensible sometimes ^.^
That is just for this specific situation incidentally, about spectator's attention - it's ok to be more casual and less focussed. What you'll lose in pure reaction will be compensated for by the group's reaction playing off each other so you're not losing anything - only for a situation where you can't completely hide the cop whatever you do, though.
Hope this helped... Someone...
praetoritevong you sir, are a legend. Seriously pretty much covered every point in great detail, nice one 
I love Gamblers cop. I am really starting to show tricks with it now and confidence will come with time. I did bad influence today and all went well with a good reaction. Someone did look at my hand but the card was hidden and I drew there attention back to the deck, where the cards are and so where spectators will most likely look.
So the point I want to stress, is, be natural, don't stand with one hand awkwardly dangling by your side. Don't swing your arm down, or hold it half behind your leg. Just act as if there is no card, nothing funny. If all the sleights happen when they shouldn't or on an 'offbeat' they are less likely to be seen.
One last thing, perform so the spectator does what you want, and looks where you want. I have a card to pocket routine that involves a cop. Once the card is coped I hand the deck to the spectator to shuffle. Then in plain view I put the card in my pocket. Nothing sneaky. No-one will look up from shufling, or the spectators hands, unless you rush and try to be deceptive.
And eye contact. Ok I'm done now.
Hope everyone agrees and this helped some people. Good thread guys
-S♠
I love Gamblers cop. I am really starting to show tricks with it now and confidence will come with time. I did bad influence today and all went well with a good reaction. Someone did look at my hand but the card was hidden and I drew there attention back to the deck, where the cards are and so where spectators will most likely look.
So the point I want to stress, is, be natural, don't stand with one hand awkwardly dangling by your side. Don't swing your arm down, or hold it half behind your leg. Just act as if there is no card, nothing funny. If all the sleights happen when they shouldn't or on an 'offbeat' they are less likely to be seen.
One last thing, perform so the spectator does what you want, and looks where you want. I have a card to pocket routine that involves a cop. Once the card is coped I hand the deck to the spectator to shuffle. Then in plain view I put the card in my pocket. Nothing sneaky. No-one will look up from shufling, or the spectators hands, unless you rush and try to be deceptive.
And eye contact. Ok I'm done now.
Hope everyone agrees and this helped some people. Good thread guys
-S♠
praetoritevong thanks you very much for your advice. i supposed my sister found out due to point 6. Anyway, i analyzed the cop today and found that i can point to someone, without exposing it, compared to a normal palmed card. i tried it once today with a cop that was already in position and it succeeded.
You just have to practice it for a VERY long time. It is almost like the classic force; you must do it on an audience over and over again before you can get comfortable with it.
Just be cool about it, and if you havfe to, make some changes to the handling. I do that trick a LOT, and I have been caught once. The second time I ever performed it was when I was caught.
Just be cool about it, and if you havfe to, make some changes to the handling. I do that trick a LOT, and I have been caught once. The second time I ever performed it was when I was caught.
Actually, I performed it just about an hour ago at a dinner I was at, and it floored everyone. It was an interesting situation because I necessarily had to remain at my spot at the table... I guess one other important thing to note is that there are a range of angles you can hold the cop at, choosing the exact one will just depend on the individual performance situation.