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Jaxon Inner circle Kalamazoo, Mi. 2537 Posts |
For the past few years I've been following a tradition I started about giving away a free trick every holiday season. I usually do this about a week before Christmas and post them in the "Secret Sessions" section of the Café.
This year I decided to do something a little different. For one thing I'm posting it in the "New to Magic" section. Secondly I'm posting it a little earlier so if you have some holiday shows coming up you might be able to use it. And lastly, I'm not going to teach a "new" trick. What I'm going to do is share a trick that many of you might already know but maybe you never really thought about how useful it is. With this well known trick you always have a back up when performing a "pick a card" type trick. So if you ever loose that break, find the wrong card or something goes wrong. This trick, or routine rather, is something you'll always be able to do to cover your mistake. So after you read what trick I'm talking about please keep reading. The trick itself isn't as important as the reason I'm going to go over it. The trick is "The Ambitious Card". Since this is the "new to magic" section I'll share what that means but I'm sure many of you already know. The Ambitious card is basically a routine in which the selected card gets lost in the deck and repeatedly travels to the top of the deck. There are many ambitious card routines out there that make use of many moves. But I'm only going over the basics here (Mainly because that's all I use when I perform it). Keep in mind that I'm not going to teach how to do these moves. You probably already know them. All you need to know is a top change, double/triple lift. Now, let's set up the situation. Somehow you found the wrong card. You are holding the deck in your left hand and a single card in your right. To your surprise they tell you it's not their card (even if they are lying.. ). Here's what you can do. Act surprised (not hard because you really are). Show them the card in your right hand and ask again, "This isn't your card"? They'll tell you that it isn't. Now place that card face down on the table as you ask them what card they did pick. Let's say they tell you it's the jack of spades. Openly go through the deck and find the jack of spades. Now cut the deck so that the JS ends up the third card from the top of the deck. Turn the deck face down a get a 3 card break under the JS. Turn it face up and make a fanfare that you found their card (Ta-da!). They won't be impressed. Turn the triple face down then insert the top card into the middle of the deck (They think it's the JS but it isn't). Now get a two card break. Snap your fingers then do a double lift. The JS just traveled to the top of the deck. Tell them you'll do it again. Tell them to watch closely to make sure you don't do anything sneaky. Turn the double face down then put the top card in the deck again by inserting it into the outer edge of the deck about half way. Ask the spectator to push it in all the way for you (This adds some participation and they'll also be more amazed because THEY put it in the middle instead of you). Turn the top card over and show that the JS is on top again. Hold the JS in the right hand and the deck in your left in readiness for a top change. The top change will be covered by you ask this question, "Can you hold your hand out palm up for me?". As you ask this perform the top change so the JS is on the top of the deck and an indifferent card is in your right hand. Say, "I know what you're probably thinking. You probably think I have more then one Jack of Spades. Well, let me prove to you that I only have this one". If you want you can place the card back on top of the deck then do a double lift at this point to give them one more look at the Jack of spades. Then turn them face down and hold the top card in your right hand again. Place the card in your right hand face down on their palm. Then slowly place the deck on top of it. They'll think the bottom card is the JS but it's actually on top. Now say, "Now, where is the JS? ON bottom right? And have I touched it? NO, now turn the top card over". They'll find the JS on top and they'll usually turn the deck over and look through it in search for another JS. They won't find one of course. Repeat the top change as above. Now put it in the deck one more time very slowly. But this time perform a double lift to show the second from teh top card (Their selection is the top card). They won't see the JS there so it looks like the trick didn't work. Act confused then notice the card on the table. Pick it up, place it on top of the deck and do a double lift. To the spectator the card switched places with the card that has been on the table since the beginning. If you like you can go one more phase where the card visually pops through the deck. I don't know where this is published so I wont go into how to do that here. I'm sure many of you know it (Blaine did it on one of his shows I think). It's the one where you bend the card and they see it pop up on top. I hope you can see how useful this routine is. Now, you can do any Ambitious card routine you like here. What I wanted to show you is how to make that mistake look like a planned event. The card that was placed on the table getting back into the trick brings everything to full circle. They'll think, "So that's why he seemed to mess up at the beginning." You can find ways to do things like this for just about any routine you perform. They are called "outs" and the ability to use outs is very important in magic. If you want to look like a pro you need to be ready for when things happen that aren't very professional (such as finding the wrong card) then turn them around into an entertaining routine no matter what happens. This above Ambitious card routine also allows you to take some chances in card magic. For instance if you go to the "You oughta be in Picture" section of the Café you'll find a short video of me performing an optical force. The video is titled something like "card trick experiment". Now this force isn't 100% but because I always have this Ambitious card routine as an out. I'm able to get a lot of practice performing it. If I get it right (I'm at about 80% accuracy now) then all is well. If I don't get the right card I have this routine above to cover for it. No one will ever know it didn't work out exactly how I planned. I hope this proves useful to you as it is to me. Happy Holidays. Ron Jaxon |
sunnydolan Veteran user Opelika, Alabama 342 Posts |
The part where the card is bent and still rises to the tip is called the Braue Pop Up Move, for those interested.
An amatuer practices untill he gets it right, a professinal practices untill he can't get it wrong.
Don't wait for oppurtunity to knock, throw open the door, grab it by the throat and drag it inside kicking and screaming. Magically yours |
ToasterofDoom Special user 671 Posts |
I've always felt the Ambitious Card provided a lot of leeway if you made a mistake. The "jumping on top" is a repeated theme that can be accomplished many ways, so a mess-up can easily be rectified, not such as other effects can.
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Robert Apodaca Special user 504 Posts |
Thanks Jaxon, that exact incident actually happenned to me yesturday. Now I know how I can work the situation to my advantage. Thanks!
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Jaxon Inner circle Kalamazoo, Mi. 2537 Posts |
I'm glad you like it. I know the routine itself isn't all that new. Many magicians perform similar if not the exact routine. The part I hope would be viewed as a "Gift", especially to those new to close up magic. Is that this is an example of the kinds of routines that will really come in handy. Not only for their entertainment value, but as an Out.
Let's say you perform a lot of coin magic. Maybe you use a gimmick coin. What would you do if you discovered that gimmick was broken after you've already started the routine you are about to perform. For instance if you performed my coin routine "Flip-M-out" that uses a flipper coin. You have all 4 coins on the table but you find out the flipper is broken. What would you do? Simply have another routine that uses 3 or 4 coins. Or you could have a spectator pick one of the coins (to make it look like it matters) and then do a one coin routine. It's a good idea to know more then one trick with each object you have routines for. If you do a routine with a napkin then know more then one. Even if it's not as good as your primary napkin trick. Learn some others that you can use as outs. The same goes for other common close up objects (bills, silverware, matches, salt/pepper, cards, coins, balls, etc....). You won't believe how important this will become if you really want to move forward in your magic. The most beautiful performances I've ever witnesses where the result of the performer covering a mistake. As a magician I knew something went wrong (because I know how the trick is usually done) but to see someone keep going and entertain without missing a beat is a sign of a real pro. Ron Jaxon |
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