So, when I look at the sticky topic on top of this forum and when I search through the Quicksearch or when I use Google, I always find topics like 'what is the easiest/your favorite self-working/...' trick. I've got a different kind of question since I cannot find a topic that's covering my question.

Yesterday I was reading in Paul Curry's Worlds Beyond, and I was looking at his 'Do as I Do' trick.
The sheer simplicity of this effect is beautiful. It looks like asbolutely nothing happened yet the result is amazing (at least, in my opinion).
So, I've read a long time ago in another topic about the "magic fix" we're always searching for.
That, and the fact that we (at least: I) are constantly practicing great tricks which do require some sleights or memory work (like 'the first Elmsley count is a normal one, but remember to put the last card on the bottom with the second Elmsley count) raises my question: other people here who are sometimes "struck" with these very basic effects?

Does this sound familiar? So basically I am going through my "simple list" for the moment, "quickies" if you will, think that I cannot overlook these gems. (I realise presentation is an important part, but still...).

As an amateur I've started to really focus on the simple effects. I've discovered that I've been repeating a pattern of learning new tricks, getting pretty good at them, then forgetting them after enough time passes. If I don't regularly practice an effect that has more than a couple of sleights it will get fogging in my head and I wont want to perform it. The good news is that there are a number of good simple tricks out there but finding them certainly takes a bit of effort.

If you're asking for 'simple' tricks that are astonishing, Fulves' Quick as a Wink and (any) Out Of This World are two classics I keep in the repertoire [the latter requires a lot of setting up, however].

Not impromptu versions like Lorayne’s.

Sorry, I should have been more explicit about that - I meant you would have the OoTW deck already set up with r*d and bl*ck c*rds m****ing - a beginner certainly wouldn't be able to sort them on the fly in front of an audience while making patter as well.. .. how do I know this? Because I can't .. .. and I'm a beginner!

Betrayal Mix

Please check out Harry Lorayne's Impromptu Out of This World in his My Favourite Card Tricks.
You do not need to set up the reds and blacks on the fly. If you read it you'll see what I mean.

Best, Motte

Thanks MothMan, I'm new to magic so I'm trying to pick my sources very carefully. A lot of people have recommended 'The Magic Book' by Harry Lorayne as it was originally written with the general public in mind, so out of respect for that idea I'm starting with Issue #1 of Apocalypse and working my way forward - I'll let you know when I come across it!

Betrayal Mix

Good for you,The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne is a superbly written introduction to card magic and also other forms of magic ( coins, mentalism etc ).There are other great entry level books of course, but I would seriously recommend The Magic Book to anyone starting out. Whenever I get stale and need some inspiration, I open a Lorayne book. Works every time.

Best, Motte

My absolute favorite card trick is Pop Haydn’s Chicago Surprise. Because it can go two ways, there’s a bit of practice needed to be smooth. I highly recommend his video on this trick. It does include a pdf of the instructions, but the video has a wonderful explanation of the why behind the how. That discussion is well worth having.

If you want general tricks that work well, I like Card Through Handkerchief and a simple control with a surprise revelation (see Patrick Page’s video Reveal a Card).

Patrick

Hi Proximo.
In Paul Curry's Worlds Beyond, take a look at The Truth-Telling Joker.

Could you elaborate on this remark?

I was saying only that Lorayne’s OOTW and, I think, some other versions do not require a setup as Betrayal Mix stated several posts above.

Oh I see. I used to do this one quite a bit.

It was one of the first tricks I learned (no, really), but I only learned the tedious ordinary set-up way [though it can then very easily be reset for a repeat performance - especially handy if you're doing the trick for Winston Churchill].

Now that I'm tentatively taking the steps to learning card manipulation, the concept of being able to perform an illusion like this via an impromptu handling is ever so tempting .. but one must crawl, before one can walk, of course...

Betrayal Mix, Lorayne’s Impromptu OOTW requires no sleight of hand. It’s all subtlety and brilliant.

Oh, thanks ejohn, I'll hafta crack open my copy of Classic Collection and give it a proper read (for some reason I thought it required extensive culling)..

You know why I write my books?? For you to READ.

And I honestly believed it was in order to not forget the innumerable effects and techniques you have mastered.

(Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as a big fan of all your works on memory)

You're not truly on the Magic Café forum until you've been asked by Harry to read one of his books.

Thanks Harry, I'm currently having a blast flicking through Close Up Card Magic! I can't wait to find your impromptu OOTW, however!

I been playing around with Weight Guess by Nick Trost. It's in The Card Magic of Nick Trost - the last variation (where the cards are all face down). Spectator cuts off a chunk of cards from the deck. You pick up that chunk in your right hand and hold the rest of the deck in your left hand and weigh them. You thumb off cards from one hand until you say they are now both the same weight. You also announce how many cards there are in each hand. Then you thumb them off one at a time simultaneously with each hand to show there are the same number in both packets. Extremely easy, works perfectly every time and looks exactly like you are doing what you say you're doing - weighing two packets of cards in your hands. Instantly repeatable (and probably gets stronger with repetition because people will scrutinize more each time but still not see how it's done). Awesome trick.