Gamblers Cop // Performance Guide

Mar 19, 2008
396
1
My place!
This is for people who have dangerous, and are freaked out about the gamblers cop. I posted this to give my tips on performing this.

Palm it just like the DVD. Don't think 'he's D+M hes got ninja angle control techniques' and DO NOT MOVE IT HIGHER IN YOUR HAND, this is a recipe for disaster.

Get it smooth.Get it natural

Get at the same level of your audience. Standing up is ideal. The human eye can not focus on things below about stomach hight.

if you are performing for one person, perfect! you should start practising/performing on one person.

if you are performing a group in front of you, perform (let them get the card, etc) to the person on your palming hand side. This puts your body between you and the palmed card. Use the misdirection to get the card to/from the deck.

If you are performing surrounded, this is where misdirection is the key.

Watch D+M's performances, and see how he performed it, you can pick up a lot from his performances

Thanks to D+M for getting me into palming

-Frezzingaces
 
When I want to make the card appear somewhere, or make the card leave the deck. Once I have the card 'Copped' I place the deck on the table and either spread it, or ask someone else to do it. That way, all eyes are on the deck and not me. ;)

Once you've 'copped' you just can't stop!

Cheers, Tom
 
Jul 7, 2008
38
0
Where do you palm the card... I palm it at the middle figner but daniel does it on the ring finger...I find it better with the middlöefinger, first becuase the angles and the grip.

Sorry for my english, i´m from german ;)
 
Apr 28, 2008
596
0
Where do you palm the card... I palm it at the middle figner but daniel does it on the ring finger...I find it better with the middlöefinger, first becuase the angles and the grip.

Sorry for my english, i´m from german ;)

I originally learnt it using the middle finger but I switched to the ring finger when I got Dangerous. I think using the ring finger makes your hand look more relaxed, it does feel slightly awkward at first but I think you'll get used to it.
 
Act casual. Unless somebody is looking directly at the location of your gambler's cop, they won't suspect a thing. If you try and hide your hand, it won't work.

Also, be sure to pick up just one card, not more than one. :)
 
Jul 26, 2008
470
0
NJ
Strangely, this is the only palm I can do, and I'm actually pretty good at it. My hands are too small to do any other palms.
 
Jun 9, 2008
32
2
It's all about the misdirection...

It's all about confidence and misdirection. When I first got into magic I was so unsure about myself that I didn't even try to attempt a palm or a hard slight because I was so afraid of getting caught. What I realized is that I first had to believe the lie in order to get anyone else to. I had a bad habit of squinting whenever I was doing something I wasn't that good at. Even in practice. No wonder I got caught. The other thing I realized is that I was learning all these amazing slights and perfecting them and was totally confident but I would still get caught during performance. Why? I realized that I was spending most of my time on the wrong thing. I put too much time into making something as angle proof as possible. I spent no time trying to make my misdirection as flawless as possible. In a sense I was spending all my practicing on something that was supposed to be unseen and no time on what was seen by the spectator. The truth is that you could have the worst gamblers cop in the history world but if your misdirection is fine tuned it wont matter, but if you have the best gamblers cop in the world and your misdirection or confidence level is poor chances are you'll get found out. This is funny but this is how I practiced holding someones attention. My father is one of those people (as so am I) that when they watch TV they get tunnel vision. I could say my fathers name 5 times, even yell it and sometimes still not get an answer. Can u think of a better chance to practicing holding someones attention. At first it was like 15 seconds tops. Eventually I could hold his attention for as long as I wanted the conversation to last. It gave me confidence that I could and the skills I needed to do it well. Practice voice intonation. Where you look. What you say. Where you point and try to keep the focus there. Take in all these variables and try new ones. Find what works for you. Do this and you will be way ahead of the learning curve when it comes to the amount of time you have to put in before something is performance ready.
 
Nov 6, 2007
140
0
Strangely, this is the only palm I can do, and I'm actually pretty good at it. My hands are too small to do any other palms.

Yeah same here... Except for tenkai that is, but I rarely ever tenkai palm cards. But indeed, the gambler's cop does kick major a$$.
 
Apr 22, 2008
224
0
You cop a card with the ring finger and the base of your thumb. Why???? Because when you bring your hand down the card is completely invisible from the front.
 
Feb 6, 2008
9
0
43
Hi guys and gals,

Can someone PM me on the gamblers cop specifically on how to get ready for it? I do not own Dangerous, but I do have d+M ONE notes. Without trying to expose, I get the card into cop position and then slide the deck into mechanics grip. From here I am ready to cop off the card. Is there a better way?

Thanks,

Dave G.
 
Sep 20, 2008
50
0
Israel
Hi guys and gals,

Can someone PM me on the gamblers cop specifically on how to get ready for it? I do not own Dangerous, but I do have d+M ONE notes. Without trying to expose, I get the card into cop position and then slide the deck into mechanics grip. From here I am ready to cop off the card. Is there a better way?

Thanks,

Dave G.
That's just it, and while the copping hand goes down, you keep the right hand that just gripped the deck where it is...

One more tip is don't worry about it, don't keep looking down to 'check' on it and if it's flashing or whatever. People will look where you are looking. So just look cool. (;
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nov 10, 2007
1,706
1
You forgot the most important thing you must be natural with it you can not be tense when you have it in gamblers cop. Do not call any attention to your hand or anything like that. Just rest your hand to your side.
Hope this helps a little bit more for those who need help with this " move ",
Donald
 
Feb 6, 2008
9
0
43
Cool thanks guys. So just to clarify for the "get ready", it is perfectly acceptable to kind of slide the deck forward back into mechanics grip after card(s) been copped as long as it is natural and relaxed?
 
Oct 2, 2008
336
0
UK
Jinai.deviantart.com
After watching Joel's "Thoughts on working", i think i saw him Gam Copping the first card to his pocket (though im not sure) after when he dribbled the cards. Thats what i do from now on when i wanna cop away a card. The deck is messy, index goes under, while the whole hand is squaring the longer sides i buckle and then within the up down motion (of squaring), i get my card. Then pick my nose.
 
Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
Hi guys and gals,

Can someone PM me on the gamblers cop specifically on how to get ready for it? I do not own Dangerous, but I do have d+M ONE notes. Without trying to expose, I get the card into cop position and then slide the deck into mechanics grip. From here I am ready to cop off the card. Is there a better way?

Thanks,

Dave G.

That's basically it. Just be careful you don't flash to your right in get-ready position.


I posted this about a week ago and it's fairly relevant so I'll put it here too. They're tailored towards two specific people, but the information contained can help anyone in general and in that situation.


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...
 
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