ROUTINING CARD TRICKS

W

hen the neophyte has mastered several tricks, he is faced with the necessity of routining them, that is to say, arranging them in the best possible order so that the fullest effect can be drawn from each feat and so that they will follow one another smoothly without any hesitation or delay. This programming of tricks is most important. If one relies solely on knowing a number of separate tricks, all too often one's mind goes blank after a trick or two before an audience. This is true even with advanced cardmen. A floundering attempt is then made to recall some simple feat, and instead of arriving at a triumphant climax one has to close ignominiously.

To avoid such disaster, the only plan is to arrange one's tricks in a certain sequence, so that, having started with one trick, the rest follow automatically with no effort of memory whatever. This routining will be found to be an interesting study. Roughly the plan should be to start with a good trick, one that arouses interest at the very beginning, continue with tricks the effects of which are on an ascending scale of interest, and finish with the strongest effect of the series.

In using the word "mastered" in the first sentence of this chapter, we mean that the student has his tricks literally at his finger tips and that he can do them at a moment's notice, anywhere and with any pack that may be handed to him. This is the only way in which to get complete satisfaction from performing and to give complete satisfaction to your audiences. Make up your mind at once that it is better to know a few tricks thoroughly than it is to half know several dozens.

Let us suppose that the conditions are that you are called

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