Never really do any gambling routines myself cos I always feel it is not very "me" to do that. But after Uncle Bob's session, I actually did the No Second Chance (using second deals) and the one (hate to admit it) contributed by Shade.
The question is:
How should I treat a gambling routine? Should I treat it as a magic trick or a demonstration of skill only? I mean, there is a difference between the 2 characters ie magician and cardshark.
In the audience's mind, how should they be feeling? Amazed by the magic or impressed by the card handling skills?
I know that both effects have a "magical" ending (more for the former), but essentially you started off with a pseudo gambling expose and ended up with a piece of magic, how does one reconcile with the difference? (understand?)
Ok, maybe I think too much...
They should be:
1) Stunned by the impossible
2) Envious of your skill (however human yet inexplicably magical)
3) In awe and fear of the implications
I think it's still up to you how you wish to reconcile the disparity in method and effect - but if you look at it logically, a gambling routine is supposed to illustrate super-human (almost God-like) control over the cards - isn't that magical in and of itself?
Magic is basically about wish-fulfilment and fantasy. Isn't a gambling routine designed to do that? I mean if dealing a pat poker hand to yourself whenever you wish isn't fantasy, I'm not sure what is. Of course, one could argue that it IS possible (at least for some of us) but isn't it beyond the reach of the ordinary?
Either way, I still feel that if you present card magic, it is very hard to avoid gambling routines, since the very allure of a deck of cards comes from the risk it represents to the beholder - of fortunes won or squandered. As a magician, it is nothing short of foolish to pretend that it doesn't exist, since the very essence of all card effects would be pointless to begin with if it weren't for the premise of the risk it symbolises. What is the point of finding a lost card if not for the perceived advantage it gives you over your audience in a game of cards to begin with? :P
Shade
