Just wondering if there are other uses for the ID? Other than to reveal the spectators chosen card reversed in the deck.?
F.

Cody Fisher has done some work on this. Check out http://www.codyfisher.com and read through his M.U.M. Magazine articles. He uses the I.D. in an "Any Number Down" type trick, I think. There's a lot of great stuff in those articles. Hope this helps.

I'll have to check out that site.

I have actually used the ID for a couple of things. For one thing, if I for some reason totally screw up, as it were, I can always go to my ID to show that I got their card.

One other thing I do: a friend of mine showed me a really cool magician-buster trick he was doing, but he wasn't doing much with it other than fooling magicians. (An amazingly simple and yet amazingly deceptive setup such that he could tell what card you had taken.) I modified that trick to do for lay people, and it goes in three stages. I have virtually no chance of missing their card the first two times around, but as the routine goes on, I tell them, this will be more difficult. The third stage I am basically reduced to making an educated guess as to their card (though they don't know that), and I will quite often miss. When I do, I remind them that this is the hardest version of the trick (it involved more mixing up of the deck than the previous two versions), but I "always carry a backup deck." I then pull out my trusty ID and ask, "so, what was your card?" I think you can see where that goes.

Also, I have seen my friend use the ID in different ways as part of a larger trick. For example, he may get the wrong card....OR, someone else may have taken a card as well.....and he will find the spec's card turned over under the wrong card/other spec's card in the ID. Very good presentation of that. Usually done after he has forced a card on them repeatedly, and then, he "misses." Lots of fun to watch him do stuff like this to people.

:-)

Alan

I have told in other posts, but I don´t mind to repeat it.

There is a DVD that Rick De Castro did all about the invisible deck. It contains about ten different routines and ideas using the invisible deck. Highly recommended!

All the best magic,

Pablo Tejero

Check out a routine by Steve Bedwell. Shake, Shuffle and Twist I think is the name of it. Very good for the stage or parlour. Could be done close-up but I think it plays much larger than that.
Jason

I second Jason's recommendation. Steve Bedwell's "Shake, Shuffle & Twist" is brilliant. I still prefer the "standard" use of an ID, but Bedwell's effect is very good.

Larry D.

I hate gimmicks, but I occasionally have the ID as a back up for when I try psychological forces.

Other than that a doorstop is about all its useful for

I think it was called "Do as I did" by darwin Ortiz. An interesting idea to use the invisible deck for.

Thanks Mikey-Flys, that is a great routine. It went over very well when Darwin lectured and makes great use of the ID. He also has an impressive wildcard.

Sometimes I snap my fingers and spread through deck showing that, even though the deck is the same thickness, all the odd cards have vanished! I then let the spectator snap their fingers, and incredibly, all the odd cards reappear facedown between the face-up even ones!

Sorry. It's late, and I can't sleep. I think this was mentioned earlier, but the ID makes a great "out". It's saved me on several occasions when the spectator "accidentally" named the wrong card during another card trick. Usually, I'll just palm out the card they named and produce it from my pocket, but if the guy's being a real pain (you know, that rare individual you just can't do magic for), I just pull out the ID and turn him into a pile of mush. Done in a nice way, the guy usually does a 180 and enjoys the rest of the set (but that's another thread, entirely).

I've also had to use it on stage a couple times as an out to the "Tossed Out Deck". I name the cards and all but one guy sits down. When he names his card, I reach in my pocket for the invisible deck saying, "I thought you'd be here, so I brought these." Not the best ending, but it floors them and gets you out of it. Wait, isn't that the definition of a good ending?! Oh well.

I do have to say (damn, will he ever shut up!?), having good outs for your tricks gives a wonderful boost to your performing confidence. Meaning, you can just have fun with your magic, concentrating on the presentation, secure in the knowledge that if anything should happen to go wrong, you'll be able to get out of it successfully, without your audience being any the wiser. I mean, if they don't know how the trick is supposed to end, how could they be? One of my favorite quotes in magic is, I think, by Harry Blackstone, Sr. He said, "Shoot an arrow. Wherever it lands is the target!" That is so true. Man, am I off topic...

Henry Evans of Argentina has some nice ideas with the id

Didn't Marlo have a variation where he made the even cards disappear and then reappear face down?

An ID can make a great out, but when used as a stand-alone effect, nothing beats the "standard" presentation in my opinion.

Larry D.

David Ben has an interesting application of the ID in his new book. He uses it in an in-the-hands version of Triumph. It has two phases, the first one is done with a selected card and the second with a card that is merely thought of.

Hi Larry,

Marlo did have that variation, but his used red-backed cards, while mine...

I totally agree with you on the standard use of the invisible deck. Nothing stronger, in my opinion. I should have mentioned that in my previous post. The truth is, I do it at almost every show with the classic presentation, and if I have to use it as an "out" later, I will.

Many times at strolling gigs where I don't have much time, but a lot of people to get to, I have used the "Blaine-esque" version. I'll walk up, do a quick coin trick, and then take out the ID and have them just name a card. It quickly floors them and I move on to the next group. Of course it helps if you look a little dazed, and speak in a slow, monotone voice...

Yep...David Blaine, the Steven Wright of the magic world!

:-)

Alan

David Blaine is hyper compared to Steven Wright, who, by the way, is a GREAT comedian. One of my favorite lines of his is, "You can't have everything, where would you put it?" Or, "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."

Oops, back to the topic. Decades ago I saw Darwin perform his ID effect in his lecture and it was very good. If the second deck is marked, the effect is even stronger in my opinion.

Larry D.

T.a. Water's use of an ID is spectacular. You will find it in Mind, Myth and Magic.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
AB Stagecraft