Control or No
Control?
By
Simon Lovell
with additional ideas from Ned the Lemming
At
a magic lecture recently somebody asked
my favorite way to control a card to the
top of the deck. This started quite a
long answer that carried on at a local
tavern afterwards. I guess they were kinda
surprised at my answer. I'm pretty sure
they expected a chat about the Pass (something
I do use) or riffle shuffle techniques
(which I can also use). But that wasn't
it!
You
see, I think that if a magician puts the
card back into the center of the deck
then very neatly triple cuts the cards
before doing a very tidy riffle shuffle
(with perhaps just a tiny 'clonk' as a
final single card hits the top of the
deck) then, although they may not know
where the chosen card is, the spectators
assume that, by using their skilled hands,
the magician may well do so! This is fine,
of course, if you are doing an effect
where your skill has to be evident (such
as in a gambling routine perhaps) BUT,
if you want them to truly believe that
the card is lost I don't think it's the
way to go.
I
work very sloppily with the cards as if
I really don't care where they are or
what they are doing. I'll shove the card
into the middle and get it to the top
using a number of options. I may, if feeling
frisky enough, use my Slo-Mo pass. I may
throw (and I stress the word throw) packets
of cards all over the bar letting them
go everywhere. Since I had a break on
the chosen card it's pretty easy to see
where the chosen one is. In the process
of gathering up the cards it is real easy
to manipulate it, using fingers and thumbs,
to the tops of the deck (a Malini technique,
I believe). I don't square up the deck
but just grab it as a loose pile and start
overhand shuffling (keeping the top card
in place with pressure from the left finger
tips) asking, "Do you shuffle like this
or the posh riffly way?" During the shuffle
I'll let one or two, sometimes more, cards
fall to the floor and say, "Look if you
don't want to play with us you can stay
down there on the floor!" Then I'll lean
forwards to the spectators and stage whisper,
"It's OK, I only got to page three of
the instruction book!"
At
this point, to their perception, the card
HAS to be lost. If they don't then you
just haven't been casual enough!
I'll
also often split the deck, with the top
half being larger, and ask them to show
off their riffle shuffling skills. Because
of the large split, when they shuffle
99 times out of a 100 they'll leave it
on top for you! If they don't it's bound
to be in the top 2 or 3 and it's not that
tough to see just where if you watch them
shuffle. After their shuffle I'll say,
"Wow, I wouldn't want to play cards with
you!"
The
whole point is that the card is lost.
When the magic happens you can be just
as surprised as they are, something I
love to do. I'm not really the magician,
just a catalyst for magic to happen!
BTW
Ned likes this too. He says it's fun to
watch while eating an Alfalfa sandwich!
All
the best to all, Simon and Ned
