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Samuel Special user Norway 831 Posts 
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This is my attempt to create a thread that can compile all the greatest tips regarding the Ambitious Card. What I want is for other users to post good tips on the ambitious card, so that readers (including me) who is learning and/or performing the ambitious card can pick up some tips on how to perhaps raise their performance to a higher level.
Please don't post any "this thread rocks/sucks" or "I totally agree", keep it so that every post has at least one new tip. In that way this thread will become a resource, not a chat  Looking forward to other tips, I will add more as I remember/learn them.
Tip #1: If you do the ambitious Pop-Up move (the bent card), use your first finger to put some pressure on the cards from beneath. If you do so, the card will not only pop up, it will in many cases actually JUMP up from the deck, making a much more visual and stunning pop-up. Tip #2: If the card is on the top of the deck, you can actually do the K.M. Move to have a card secretly reversed on top of the deck. To do so, push of two cards as one, then do the K.M. move before you turn the card over, so that you now hold the deck face down, but you contact the lower of the double and take it with the hand as it turns. You now have a card reversed on top of the deck, and you can easily replace the ambitious card on it and turn the pack face up again, then do a double.
Samuel
Magic is everywhere |
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vinsmagic Eternal Order sleeping with the fishes... 10960 Posts
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Samuel I start with a card on bottom of the deck ,I force this card using the giggle force .......
then in a flash the card pops to the top of the pack face side up using my ambitous pop up move. I do not believe this is on my dvd so pm me and you a see this in action with explaination... not quite sure if this is what you are looking for... vinny |
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Samuel Special user Norway 831 Posts
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I apologize, but I must have been explaining it wrong.
What I am looking for is not how you do the ambitious card. Nor is it how to do certain moves. What I'm looking for is a bit "exclusive" tips on the ambitious card, which you have discovered or learned, that you think it could help others to know. It might be tips on the routining, it may be new ways to use new/old sleights to improve the handling (tip #2), or something of those lines. See my two tips for a 'guide', or template. A good direction: Post a tip which you have discovered, which you wished you learned a long time before you did 
Samuel
Magic is everywhere |
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Jeff Corn Inner circle Las Vegas 1190 Posts
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If you're doing a move that looks like a closer to the ACR, use it as the closer. All to often, I see someone do the Popup Move and go into something else. The Popup Move is one of the moves that I view as being a closer. It's not something for the middle of the routine.
Make each jump build on the last jump. No matter what happens in the routine, if you go back a step, you're only hurting yourself.
Yes, that is my real name. Yes, I am a real person. No, you probably won't agree with me.
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Christopher Williams Inner circle Portsmouth, UK 4464 Posts
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Make sure you have a finnish to your ACR. And make it strong. Like Ultimate Ambition, Escalator, Holey Ambition or my favourite, Omni Deck. To me it adds a purpose to the routine. Also, have the card signed, you don't want people to say there are more than 1 of the same card
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Richard Shippy Special user Scottsdale, Arizona 510 Posts
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To extend upon Samuel's, Jeff's, and Christopher's tips.
A list of tips are probably different for each performer. It will be interesting to see how many tips you accumulate and what the general consensus would be regarding routining of an ACR. These are just some thoughts. Kind regards, Rich
"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds." ~ Winston Churchill
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27300 Posts
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Have a compelling answer to the question "why is that card on the top of the deck again". Simply "because I can" does not cut it. Till you have a presentation premise, don't bug people with the trick.
How can you know when you've got a presentation... when folks ASK you to show them the "thing where..." and the "..." is NOT "the card keeps on appearing on the top of the deck". Another tip: The card to wallet or impossible location is a great effect of its own, no need to kill the ACR with a non-sequitor.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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magicmafia22 Regular user 110 Posts
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Get Daryl's DVD, worth getting it if you don't already have a video for the AC
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Cain Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 1553 Posts
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Quote:
On 2005-08-02 15:54, Richard Shippy wrote: This is excellent advice, but I would dispute a few points. Re: 4- This tip is more generalizable; it's basically a rule of magic. You should keep your handling style uniform; disrepencies arouse unwanted suspicion. Re: 5- Personally, I never understood why so many performers insist on "adding" to the illusion of the tilt move. It just strikes me as completely unnecessary (the magic cliche "don't run when you're not being chased" almost applies). Re: 6- The number of phases depends. How many is too many. It's difficult to say. Re: 7- Yes! Re: 8 & 12- These two points overlap. Re: 11- I don't hand out cards as souvenirs. This is in part because I'm not a professional magician, but mostly because I'm cheap. Which, incidentally, is a reason why I care for the pop-up move. Since the routine is supposed to build -- increasingly magical things take place -- one should really hype the final phase. This signals that the trick is coming to an end, and this is the grand finale. Let the moment of excitement settle in. I would only add that one should develop an in-the-hands ACR if your standard ACR handling requires a table.
Ellusionst discussing the Arcane Playing cards: "Michaelangelo took four years to create the Sistine Chapel masterpiece... these took five."
Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes: "You know Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, mine are even worse!" |
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Hideo Kato Inner circle Tokyo 5649 Posts
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Quote:
On 2005-08-02 15:54, Richard Shippy wrote: lol. If you do it at the beginning, it won't be Ambitious Card! Hideo Kato |
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Richard Shippy Special user Scottsdale, Arizona 510 Posts
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LOL! Yes Hideo, if you folded the card on the first phase it would be rather UNambitious.
 That was my little joke, I'm glad you caught it. 
Cain, I totally agree with you. Also, great point regarding the in-the-hands development. It is nice having the flexibility in being able to perform an ACR in a walk around situation without the need for a table. Take care, Rich
"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds." ~ Winston Churchill
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Surprise New user 1 Post
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As a new member, I am intrigued by this thread. Generalized tips on ACR...Hmmmmm
How about: Tip #13. Decide on the EFFECT. Are you skillfully bringing the card to the top or is it magically rising to the top? If the latter, don't start the routine with a shuffle after the card is replaced. The card (signed, I agree) is clearly in the center and without visible movement appears on the top. Same for all subsequent rises. Tip #14. Don't automatically reject a card to wallet or similar climax. Can you justify the "impossible place" ending by presentation? If so, go for it. Well, Hope this helps someone. I think the previously posted tips are excellent, and I am going to re-examine my routine with them in mind.
Jim Surprise
"Sleightly" Intriguing Magic! |
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DustyDave New user Santa Fe, New Mexico 44 Posts
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Here's a very visual bit for later in the routine. When the ambitious card is on the top of the deck, slide it over about half of it's width. Drop the deck face down. Air currents will cause the top card to flip face up, while the rest of the deck remains face down.
You will have to experiment with how far to drop the deck. If too high, too many cards will bounce and flip over. Too low, and nothing flips over. Hard surfaces seem to cause the rest of the deck to flip, too. What I have found to work best is a sofa or some soft object that absorbs the deck's downward impact. Convenient if you are in someone's living room for this one. This is a variation of "The Undercover Mystery" from "Ted Annemann's Full Deck Of Impromptu Card Tricks" Hope someone can use it--it works for me. Dusty Dave |
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Simon Bakker Special user the Netherlands 587 Posts
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I misread the card the first time I put in the middle. This sublety strengthens the illusion that the card really goes in the middle, in my opinion.
A great way of doing this is to let the spectator initial the card rather than signing it. Say his / her initials are T.S.B: you look at *the signed card* for a brief moment and say: "where does the S stand for?" I believe this is original by Micheal Close. If its not, someone correct me. Simon (graet thread, btw) |
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Cain Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 1553 Posts
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Quote:
His ambitious card routine goes I think my friend has a DVD of this and I watched it. It's a strong routine because something different happens each time, but it lacks a unifying theme. Also, the second phase seems stronger than the third. How can he do the whole "I want you to see it happen so I'll use half the deck" -- after performing a visual Erdnase color change where the spec actually saw it change? The latest incarnation of my ambitious card goes as follows: -Signed card goes into the center of the deck and appears on top. -Signed card goes into the center again, but this time seemingly "pops" up through the top. Not the Braue pop-up move. I "catch" the card between my thumbs. It's basically the flourish count taught on (I believe) Daryl's fifth DVD of card sleights. This is actually a new addition and I'm still practicing so that will look nice 99% of the time. I've only done it a couple of times for friends, so who knows, maybe to most laymen it will look exactly like I'm turning over the top card, in which case I will have to take it out. Herein lies my problem: I want my next phase to be the one where the card is outjogged near the bottom third of the deck, and the top half is handed to the spectator. The card then "jumps" to the spectator's packet because she "has the top half." Since I'm holding a single before this phase I have to do a sleight. I'm not a big fan of the top change. I could do it but it doesn't feel natural and it would disrupt my flow. I've thought about using Jack Merlin's tip over change, but that seems to disrupt my flow even more. I could hand the card out again at this point and do a KM move. But the KM move best comes after this phase when one has as much misdirection as he could ever want. -Anyway, next the card is placed face up in the deck, so the spec can "see it" as it materializes on top of the deck. I used to do a straight up riffle-pass that had some humor to it (difficult to explain). Now I tend to riffle the card to the bottom, steal it into tenkai and then load it on top with a wave of the hand. - The penultimate phase primes specs for the last one, which relies on some misdirection. Yes, I finish with card to mouth.
Ellusionst discussing the Arcane Playing cards: "Michaelangelo took four years to create the Sistine Chapel masterpiece... these took five."
Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes: "You know Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, mine are even worse!" |
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Tielie Special user 749 Posts
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Tip # ?
DON'T SHUFFLE
Deal cards, not drugs!
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Steranko New user UK 89 Posts
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Tip # ? Make sure it builds, no one wants to see the same thing over and over if there isn't something appealing about it. Change the method, make it more impossible and even more fair.
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Paul Chosse V.I.P. 1955 - 2010 2389 Posts
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Quote:
On 2005-08-13 09:09, Cain wrote: I sense some resistance to the Top Change! The following is a handling of the Top Change that first appeared in a slightly different form in "Take A Card", a book by Judson Brown and Jack McMillen, in 1928. I've adapted it to meet your requirements, though you may not care for the choreography. However, the rankest sort of a country rube could get away with a TC under these conditions. Heck, even I can do it! EXECUTION: The AC is face up on the deck. Dribble cards to the table until the spectator calls stop. Witht the remainder of the deck in your left hand, take the AC in your right hand, turning it face down. Gesture to the tabled half the deck, asking the spectator to cut it in half. This gesture, and the spectators' action afford you all the cover/misdirection in the world to do a TC. As soon as the tabled portion is divided in two, drop the "AC" onto the tabled packet which was originally the lower half of the cards on the table. Have the top portion replaced onto this. Ask the spectator to square everything up and hand you the packet. I take the top of the deck, the half in my left hand, and transfer it to my right as I extend my left hand palm up to recieve the tabled packet. "Here, hold onto these for a minute, will you?" I say, as if the cards in my right hand are a bother. I give them to the spectator and focus on the cards in my left hand now. Obviously I am about to cause the AC to rise from the position they've chosen to the top. Habaja Habaja, Magic! "Oops, I forgot, you've got the top, right? Turn your card over..." Success! Best, PSC
"You can't steal a gift..." Dizzy Gillespie
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scorch Inner circle 1480 Posts
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Quote:
On 2005-08-12 22:46, steichr0n wrote: Steichr0n, Again I will recommend that you go beyond Penguin to learn some better techniques. The ACR on Born to Perform is the weakest ACR that I have seen published. Poorly structured, repeating moves that are ill-advised, and it doesn't come to a satisfying conclusion, other than to say that the pop-up move is more visual than the other moves. But that isn't structure; that's sort of like saying a piece of music should merely get loud at the end. It's not enough. I'll try to say this nicely since apparently he's a Café member, but there are far better sources out there for you than Mr. Pearlman. I'm sure he has potential as a performer, and I'm sure he will be putting out better work in the future. But his current work is as a salesman for Penguin, whereas you really ought to be learning from the true masters of the craft. Check out the free promotional video from L & L Publishing with Tommy Wonder's ACR performance if you really want to see what a real consumate performer can do with an ACR. My tips for an ACR: 1. Don't neglect the triple lift and its various applications. 2. After the card goes into the middle, show that the top card hasn't turned into the selection yet, because you haven't done "the gesture." You can do this easily with a double turnover, then do "the gesture" and show the top card is now the selection. This can also be done easily if you use a triple lift (check out Ammar's elegantly structured ACR from ETMCM for an example). This really adds to the power of an ACR, but don't overprove by doing it more than once or twice in the routine. 3. Try to structure in an honest "bluff" or two. It's where you clearly, cleanly show the chosen card going into the deck, and at the last minute before you push it flush, you take it out for some reason or another in your patter. And then do the real sleight on the offbeat. The audience remembers how cleanly and honestly the bluff was, but won't remember what you did on the offbeat. Again, check out Tommy Wonder's ACR for powerful applications of this idea. 4. If you decide to use a magical gesture, don't just snap your fingers. That's our worst cliche to be avoided at all costs. Do something that fits the theme or action of a rising card. |
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Essie Loyal user Boulder, CO 278 Posts
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Here are some tips I think might be helpful (the first two have already been mentioned, but I thought I'd reiterate them anyway ;-) ):
1. Definitely avoid cutting/shuffling the deck after the card goes in. It just makes it look like a card control rather than magic. 2. Throwing in a riffle pass near the end so that the card can visibly pop up to the top can be as effective as the pop-up move (I use both in my ACR). 3. Do at least one stage of the ACR in the spectator's hands.
"Comfort the disturbed, disturb the comfortable."
-Jeff McBride |
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| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The workers » » The ambitious 'Ambitious card' thread (6 Likes) | ||||||||||
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Posted: Aug 2, 2005 05:35 pm 
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