One of the easiest forms of magic, Card Tricks have been around for as long as people can remember. These tricks have in fact grown in popularity with each year that has passed. Street performances by skilled magicians such as David Blaine and the introduction of large gaming facilities, such as the casinos of Los Vegas have contributed to the increased popularity of card tricks.
Many amateur magicians specialize in card tricks due to their versatility. They are small, easy to handle and extremely cheap. They also do not require any special props or abilities, other than a fair amount of practice and a good routine, to make them work.
Most professional magicians guard their secrets jealously. There are the occasional performers who hold sessions and seminars that introduce youngsters and amateur magic enthusiasts to the wonders and intricacies that surround the performance of card tricks.
These educational gatherings, together with the many hundreds of booklets, videos and websites are available to the public. These many items now reveal the secrets behind such astounding card tricks. Elevating cards into the air, card vanishing, but ever popular, tearing a card and restoring it to its original shape.
Sleight of hand, card marking, trick decks and a variety of other ploys are used in performing card tricks. Good sleight of hand card tricks are never easy and improve only with time and practice. Card marking which is also popular with many magicians is often undetectable to the audience or person watching the trick.
There are many ways of marking cards. Juice marking and pin pricks are the most popular methods amongst beginners. However, more sophisticated techniques such as tinting the uniform back of cards and using luminous marked cards (that can only be detected through specially made sunglasses) are also used.
The gambler's riffle test (which entails the rapid flipping of the pack to see if there is any change in the outer design of the cards) and shining light off the card to detect punctures or other markings; are just some methods through which marked cards can be detected.
However, all card tricks, no matter how complicated they may seem, are based upon a few basic principles that are then developed to produce an entirely new trick. Professional card manipulators have swelled the ranks of magicians in recent years, and include the talents of such skilled performers as Richard Pitchford (Cardini), Ed Marlo and Allan Ackerman as well as other veterans of the art.
Coin tricks have been around almost from the time coins first came into being. They have been a popular fairground attraction for the last two or three hundred years. Nowadays, coin tricks have become a favorite with professional magicians around the world.
Modern coin tricks have evolved into a fascinating act. Street magicians and performers of magic can baffle entire audiences with a variety of tricks. These are tricks such as making coins multiply, vanish and subsequently reappear by plucking them from the air.
Coin tricks are also known as coin flourishing or coin manipulating. They require sleight of hand and a fair amount of practice to improve dexterity. A polished act for presentation will make the coin trick very believable.
Coins come in a variety of sizes. Large shiny coins are more visible against your hand and are ideal for show purposes. Coins with broad or rough edges offer an advantage over other types of coins as they are easier to grip and maneuver.
It is said that practice makes perfect, and that is certainly true when performing coin tricks. Practice enables magicians to identify their personal preferences. The coins most suited to perform particular tricks are the ones which fit to the contours of their palms. These allow coin tricks to be performed deftly without being detected by the audience.
There are books, videos, TV programs, websites and even seminars that are dedicated to showing the many behind the scene magic tricks. These for the most part, focus on simple magic routines. These will help to initiate beginners to the world of magic.
More sophisticated and complicated coin tricks can be gradually developed. There are also seminars at which the "magical community" gather to show off their skill and occasionally. If you're lucky you will get an opportunity to share their knowledge on how certain of their more baffling tricks are performed.
Some of the easiest coin tricks, though vastly entertaining, require no special skill or ability on the part of the magician. A certain amount of convincing patter can often transform what would otherwise be a very ordinary trick into a gasp evoking performance.
One such case in point, especially where coin tricks are concerned, would be the Penny Prediction. Here a member of the audience is asked to select a coin from a hat, pass it around the room. Everyone except the magician sees the coin. It is then put back into the hat. The magician then proceeds to read the minds of the people, or commune with spirits and produce the correct coin.
Coin tricks such as this are very impressive. True. However, they are often very simple and easily explained. Like the Penny Prediction where the coin passed around the room. It absorbs the body heat of those handling the coin and grows warmer. When the coin is put back into the hat, the magician is able to identify it from the rest of the coins immediately.
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