look at one card but not this one now I
was trying something a little different
a lot of people asked me if I do magic
with my beer and I actually do but one
of these long scraggly beard hairs and
just I need a real beer trim to be
honest like pulling out hairs like this
let's see if we can use it for a magic
trick Geraghty was that your card yep
what's up sup guys and welcome back
today we're talking about one of the
most common plots in card magic the
ambitious card or of high into the deck
and you just goes through the other
cards to you top it is on table I really
fast
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I'm not made a video about the ambitious
card before so I thought I'd give you my
thoughts I give you some handlings and
as well as some tips and some theory on
what is probably the most common card
trick in the world magicians have been
performing the ambitious card for years
from beginner magicians to master card
handlers the ambitious card routine
otherwise known as ACR is probably the
most overused also one of the simplest
and strongest impromptu playing card
miracles now there's been some heated
debate hung the ambitious card routine
how many times does the card have to
jump to the top how many is too many 3 4
8 10 do you close the ambitious card
routine with something stronger do you
move on to something different which is
stronger do you do with a signed card do
you do with a card that you force these
are all great questions and we'll get
into that I think it correct me if I'm
wrong the earliest publication for the
ambitious card as we know it is by Jean
Yuga I believe it was in around the
1930s but there probably have been other
routines using this plot just not using
the name the ambitious card I believe a
short card was actually used in the
ambitious card to fool Houdini back in
the day I'm not gonna get into every
single publication of the ambitious card
or we'd be here literally for about 10
hours every magician on the face of the
planet has their own style of ambitious
card I've seen some that are terribly
cringe and I've seen others that are
incredibly presented and very fully
before we get into handling and some of
the things that I use in my ambitious
card and when and why I use it I'm gonna
talk about structuring so if you're just
getting into magic or if you're an
intermediate or even a professional
magician you're always looking to
improve your card magic and the strength
of your magic to your audience one of
the ways to do that is to look how you
structure and affect our jumping to the
top is kind of an effect but if you want
to create a sort of memorable piece for
the audience you might want to have a
few phases now naturally normally I
think just about three phases is just
about enough and don't get me wrong if
you're going into five or six or seven
phases that's fine too as long as the
performance supports what you're doing
so maybe it's a joke where the car just
keeps coming back to the top and doesn't
stop you know and people are laughing
but I think you can only beat a dead
horse for so long before he stops
coughing on money right
it's a weird analogy by the way who's
ever beaten a dead horse for money
moving on now if you look at structuring
we look at trip 1 2 & 3 naturally we'd
also want 3rd piece of the ambitious car
to be the climax to be maybe the most
visual or maybe the most memorable
personally I always like to have a
playing card signed when doing ambitious
card now I know it's a magician thing
where we're kind of over proving saying
oh this is the only card but it does for
some people remove the doubt in their
mind that you may have multiple cards of
the same face by having them sign it
obviously you can tell that to them and
you say look this is the only card like
this in the entire world
unless you're the type of person that
goes around signing cards for fun just
me all right once the card is signed you
want to set the tone for the effect so
perhaps instead of just putting it to
the middle of making it jump to the top
maybe give a reason for that maybe but
since you've signed it you've now put
your name on it you and the card share a
little bit of a connection I know it
sounds weird but it's not it's not going
to appear on my command anymore it's
gonna appear on your command placing the
card in the middle of the deck it's not
my finger the card doesn't rise to the
top oh right you snap your fingers boom
there it is it's a great way to start it
I think personally that's something that
it takes the skill off me and places the
magic onto them and give them a little
bit of an experience so I like that
angle a lot with ambitious cars perhaps
the cards are doing it themselves or
perhaps you are the one controlling it
that is entirely up to you and how you
want to structure that and we'll get
into the moves and some slights and
stuff a little bit later I just kind of
want to run through structuring a little
bit more phase 2 phase 2 you don't want
to do the same thing and I've seen so
many magicians do the same exact thing
with the ambitious card literally they
do the exact same thing which could be
fine just don't don't don't over milk it
is I think if you're doing the same
thing over again it's not a phase 2
you're still on phase 1 and then moving
on to phase 2 and 3 they might start to
linger off and start to get bored so for
phase 2 now at this point I like to do
something a little bit visual
I usually do one of two things either a
color change
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or something I like to say is okay well
I've done sleight of hand you've done
sleight of hand whether you know it or
not maybe this time we eliminate sleight
of hand entirely and we see the exact
moment that the card jumps up to the top
of the deck how cool would that be
another great phase would be where the
card appears in your mouth now phase
number three I know by saying that we're
doing the ambitious card the card must
jump to the top of the deck but I always
think ambitious card isn't strong enough
to end on I don't think it's something
you want to be like boom and there it is
again for the fourth time for the 19th
time it's on the top like there's no
more surprise they know what to expect
so you got to hit them with a right
basically you just want to come out of
left field with this one and make sure
they don't see it coming at all so they
might expect the card to come to the top
of the deck but you want to completely
blow their minds one of the best ways I
think to do that is to either segue into
something stronger or to prepare
something before you even start Kennedy
box is one of the best ways to do that
now there's a lot of variations on the
Kennedy box that you also have the Oh
was it all toys box and my buddy Danny
Garcia put out you have that clear one
which is really cool basically you put
this in plain sight since the beginning
this box is here the entire time and at
the end you open the box and show a
folded card which happens to be their
sign playing card which is there the
whole time so that is something I would
love to end on or perhaps you want to
end on a card under their watch where
it's folded up beneath your watch which
is also pretty cool before we get into a
few slides I also want to say that
ambitious card for me has always been a
little bit jazz now I do have a few
routines that I use and some patter that
I go over but I'm always willing to
change that up depending on the
situation if I see something that might
make the magic stronger I'm I capitalize
on that and use my cards and use my
knowledge of magic to my advantage to
you know this honors the spectator even
more make things a little bit more
impossible so I'm always on the lookout
for that so I've been performing you
know card magic for a long time so I'm
comfortable enough knowing in my
repertoire that I don't always have to
follow you know a B and C I can go from
A to C to e and then back to B and then
hit him with a Z is it Z we say Zed
those are all things that are very
possible once you have more knowledge in
magics be on the lookout for that
I always like to use ambitious card as a
sort of jazz magic and to start a
conversation with somebody to get to
know the spectator a little bit more
before I show them something a lot
stronger
but again that's completely up to you
now let's move into a few slights and a
few tricks that I use in my ambitious
card that you guys might be able to use
as well so to start an ambitious card
routine I think one of the best places
to start is literally to have them
choose any card now quick tip a lot of
people do this take any card it doesn't
matter I hate that line I think it's
condescending and I think if you're
involving someone else it should matter
what card they take so instead if you
can have them choose any card and if
your deck allows it and you're not
holding anything fishing here give them
the deck and say I want you to go
through there and I want you to take a
card that means something to you make
sure you take the right card because it
does matter maybe even direct them to
say hey take a card that has some space
on it that you can write something on
you know maybe not one of these cards
but something that has a little bit of
space on it so once they've done that
let's say they take a card
instead of having them write their name
on it and a lot of people do that as
well and I've mentioned that you can
have them write their name which is
super cool it allows them to know that
that's their card maybe have them write
something special on it maybe a word
that means something to them what's
really interesting about that is that
sometimes every now and then you're
gonna be able to read off them what that
word could possibly be maybe it's a pet
nextel paws interesting it's your dog
what kind of dog do you have at this
point you can do get readies you have
something to talk about other than
saying okay why did you choose this card
is this the you know what I mean just
like talk about what they wrote down I
think it's a great great little way to
keep the ball rolling and you know stop
being awkward now I'll show you a few
things I'm gonna show you how
sleight-of-hand works when I do it but
then I'm gonna let you do some sleight
of hand and then I'm going to eliminate
all the sleight of hand entirely I want
you to see your card right here
all the way back on top now you might be
you might be thinking to yourself well
this guy's really slick and he's using
this crazy sleight of hand and you might
be right so instead now I'm gonna have
you take the cards in your hand hold
your hand flat perfect I want you just
to hold this top card now they're gonna
hold this while they hold that I'm gonna
lift this up and I'm gonna ask him to
put that back there and they're gonna
put it back and lay that on top
I've watched you two turn over the top
card now they've turned it over and I
see a car that's a great way to do that
phase another way to do that as long as
it's in their hand I think that's a
really good step up from me doing in my
hands now they're going to do it in
their hands so in the first phase the
only thing I've done was a control that
I came up with which is this one here
you can check it out in my car controls
I think it's like my favorite car
control I needed something like that but
whatever car control you want to do you
can even just you know have it in the
middle and then do like a double
undercut which is when you hold a brake
you grab half and then the other half
and then it's back on top whatever you
want to do to make it jump to the top
let's say a pass alright so it's here
you can say okay your cards in the
middle as you can see and now it's back
on top so whatever whatever sleight you
want to use is fine as long as the card
goes back to the top now for phase 2 a
lot of different things you can do a lot
of people like to do the the Marlowe
tilt which looks something like this
take your card and place it somewhere in
the middle maybe right about here
and if I snap my fingers the car jumps
to the top I can put it right back in
and it jumps to the top once again and
what the Marlowe tilt is I'll show you
this right here this is a really clever
and simple move that anybody can get
hang up you want to basically lift up
one card okay
with your index finger you're lifting up
one card and you're holding it by the
rest of these fingers so from the front
you can't really see that there's a big
gap right because you're kind of holding
it like this which is really really
great you're just going to push a bunch
of these middle cards randomly so that
they protrude a little bit at the front
so it looks like you're putting in the
middle and then finally you're just
gonna lay it on top of this packet to
make it the second card from the top and
hold it with your pinky and the meat of
your the base of your thumb right there
so it looks like it's going in and then
just open your hand it's in the middle
of the deck now it's actually second
from the top so once it's second from
the top what you want to do is just a
double lift show them that card that it
jumped to the top and how at this point
what's really cool is that you can place
this in their hands you know you can
have them push it in all they want and
it still jumps at the top but I like to
do like I said I like to I like to use a
bit of car to straighten performance and
I don't even care what you think about
that but whatever what I do is I say
yeah okay I might I might be doing some
sleight of hand
but this time you're gonna do the
sleight of hand I want you to take that
card and put it to the middle the middle
it's still on top so what I've done
there is a thing called the simpler
switch and I've gotten so used to doing
this I've been doing this for years that
I do not even look at my hands when I'm
doing this in fact if I look at my hands
it'll look worse than if I don't that's
how you used to doing this trick I am so
I do this kind of little flourish with
my cards and then once I get here I take
this card
and I sort of pop this down with my
fingers just enough for this card to get
behind I'm here I said oh yeah you might
think I'm using it and at this point I'm
looking at them in the eyes I want them
to look at me you might think I'm using
sleight of hand and you might be right
and I'm already set up and I do this all
the time this is like my go to get ready
for a double lift so it's just something
casual I do it looks flourishing because
I'm explaining that I'm using sleight of
hand and once I'm here I just pop it
behind that card now it's second from
the top that's something I like to use
feel free to practice that you can just
sit at home and do this you're just
holding the card here and you're
flicking it there yeah I think that's
from Paul Harris he does the simple
switch where he takes both of these and
switches them like this not something
I'm very proficient at but I do have
this one down so instead of just
dropping it here and you can do that too
you can even you know show them that
you're just throwing it to the top the
deck and when you're ready throw it
second to top another good idea is to is
to have a top change so if you're here
you say okay you're gonna take the card
and place it in the middle boom now it's
here and all I've done there was as I'm
talking and I I've taught changed and
I've pointed to them again any means to
bring that into their hands is a good
reason phase three I'm not gonna get
into too much with phase three just
because I want you guys to be creative
now there are ton of magic stores out
there ton of shops I just play around
with what works for you for the third
phase because I think that's the most
important one whether you want it to
appear in your wallet or whether you
want it to appear in your pocket you
know putting in your pockets actually
not a bad idea they can you know that's
pretty cool - and then you can from
there you can do the whole car - pocket
thing you're like all right it's already
it's already in my pocket as you can see
here boom and cards here you know
whatever you want to do at that point is
cool I really think the Kennedy box is a
great way to finish this any type of
card - a possible location is absolutely
great because they've signed that card
and for them to find it anywhere else
other than in the deck is absolutely
magical so play around with that I might
leave some links below to a few of the
things that I've mentioned you guys can
check out hope you enjoy my thoughts and
theory and techniques on techniques
techniques
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts theories
and techniques that I've talked about
news here in this video today about the
ambitious card routine let me know below
how many phases and what phases you like
to do what you'd like to end with and
start with I'm really interested to see
and I'm sure a lot of other magicians
watching this would love to read through
your comments so go ahead and comment
below as always thank you guys so much
for watching I hope to see you on the
next video and until then
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