I have been trying to do Classic F****, but I realized that either Singaporeans are too suspicious (to magic) by nature or I really didn't do it well, because my hit rate is very low.

So any ideas how to improve on it?

Well, the CF depends on timing and experience, it's something which cannot be practice infront of a mirror or to the same audience again and again.

Some spectators either select from the top or bottom, which like what you said. They are very suspicious. We cannot stop them from doing this.

But to other spectators, the CF will be a perfect hit on them if you actually catch the subtetly, timing and pattering.

You can improve your CF by maybe changing the words you say to your audience prior to it.

You can refer to Wonder Words by Kenton Knepper for the solutions, he has it there. I tried it out, it improves hit rate by almost 60%!!

Paul Green has a really in depth video on the Classic Force alone that really helped me out. It covers everything from timing to wording to this whole "zen" feel thing. It's worth checking out but I think they only have it in VHS format.

Chris

Use CF subsitutes.....thats what i suggest...if you want the same effect...but then subsitutes ain't CF anymore...so it kinda defeats the purpose....

I would use switches for a same selection effect.

timing is crucial, for me i hit those troublemakers during the offbeat as its disarming

CF on the off beat?? :blink:
Dude.....it's CF.....how to off beat? :unsure:

Mostly i would say its the way you patter and after that the timing to accomplish the move with the spectator reactions.

It's when the spectator didn't even know he has chosen a card.

Many may not think much of technical handling in terms of the CF. I mean, what's there to it but just "breaking" it down at a point and then timing?

I have my own handling of the CF; one that IMHO looks more natural, especially for those performer's hands that look "rushed" to spread the deck to a point.

Here's a BIG tip. Shouldn't be giving this away, but ah well. The CF can be done by feel. So, I always do it with my head turned away. You'll be amazed at how disarming this is for laymen (apparently you can't see, so why should I care so much?), and they just reach for the most easily accessible card to them (which my handling pretty much ensures) without much thought. Other things to help is to add a sense of urgency to the selection process, put the onus on them for the effect to work, avoiding challenge situations etc. PM me if you need clarifications. At the end of the day it's still experiential based.

Again! A HUGE tip - with your head turned away. Once people start obeying you... tell them I sent you. :)

You starting a cult ar? ? lolx

Hey, thanks guys for all your valuable opinions.

I will try to work on the head-turned-away thingy. So I suppose I will just stick to the usual riffle f**** for the time being.

I try not to do a classic f**** at the start. Do it once your audience is more involved and they just want to be entertained instead of want to heckle you.

If you really need to do a CF at the start, be open to your audience. Make them enjoy what you're about to do and you'll get your CF done easily.

Actually go can go like.. " Go on and pick card it doesn't matter which card you pick." then they wont go up and down chosing 1 card. after that its pretty much up to your timming. =) hope i help here.

i think greg wilson did very well in his Pyrotechnic Pasteboards.. can see how he reacts when the spectator reach for a top or bottom card.. but he didn teach CF in his video i think..

and like what some of the others say... have a "pick a card any card trick" as a backup if the CF fails..

Hmm.. I think it would work nicer if you said, point to a card. And catch the timing of the hand. Works fine for me.

By right, I think specs aren't even supposed to suspect anything. Other f****s give you the benefit of a 100% hit rate but to the more discerning it does look suspicious.

However the great thing abt CF is that it emulates the exact actions of letting the spec choose a card without the intention of f***ing anything, so you can use that as an advantage to express a sense of off-beat(ness) and urgency ( in letting the spec choose one so that the trick can be started, implying sublimally that the trick hasn't even started yet)

As such they would not be suspecting anything and the CF then becomes dead easy to execute.

BTW for the chronic CFer, Paul Green does have some great tips for difficult ppl

There seems to be a lot of discussion on the CF; two threads in the past month. I though I would toss in my thoughts. (Much of this is a summary, some may be new)

This is one of those irritating "knack things", something that you can't teach. However there are places to go for a good starting point and ways to help you pick up the knack.

For places to go, Paul Gertner put out a great pamphlet if you like reading. For me, the Paul Green DVD is the way to go. He gives tons of tips and talks about different situations. He also gives the best tip... the way to learn the CF is to practice it and the best way to practice it is to CF cards in a trick where the CF doesn't matter. He also teaches a trick, The Odds Are With Me. where you can do two CFs and neither one matters. That's double the practice.

Now, to the biggest secret on that DVD. The trick turns out to be both extremely strong for laymen and pretty much ignored by magicians. That's kind of a running joke w/ between us; we've seen magicans tune out at his lectures because of the simplicity of the method.

Anyway, bottom line is you learn it by doing it and I hope this summary helps.

Regards,

Bob Tobias