David Blane

[no_leaf_clover]

I have an ebook explaining a lot of his tricks. A lot them are done with rigged audiences acting surprised, etc. They're still effective, though, because people are naive enough to believe everything they see on TV, to think that what they see on TV is reality instead of just TV.

A lot is also psychology. Well, all of it is, to different degrees. For example, some card tricks involve perception. When he flips through cards and then produces the card you picked out as he flipped, he's picking a card that stuck out to your vision, and he knew it would.

In fact, I was watching that particular trick with my dad. I saw one card stick out in particular, so I intentionally picked a different card at random from my head. He guessed the card I had avoided, and thus didn't guess my card. My dad didn't pick up on the trick and picked the card he was intended to, though. I imagine a lot of people were thus manipulated. It would be a huge coincidence for so much of a television audience to have picked the same card if it was truly random, eh?

If anyone wants the ebook, it's a pdf and I can send it to you over AIM. My screen name is bsbray11.

[HUYI]

OK, then explain the trick he does when he predicts the lottery numbers on the fearless DVD, he goes up to this random man on the street and says that he will win the lottery the man buys a ticket and wins a load of money, how on earth would he know what time to buy that card from the shop, and how would he know that the scratch card would win?

[MisterJingo]

If this is the one I'm thinking about, a lot of things don't make sense. Firstly, you never see the guy hand the card in and get the cash. Secondly, he won $1700-ish didn't he? Supposedly shops can only pay out up to $500, anything over that you need to go to a centre to collect. Yet this guy supposedly cashed in the card for the full amount at the shop.

Finally, such cards are easy to produce (i.e. produce a fake one and pay the guy out of your own pocket for the sake of the trick). You could easily give a guy a fake card, he genuinely believe he won, then let him in on the trick, give him the cash and film him happy with it. He's not really going to complain.

I'm reading a good book suggested by catmeow which is really opening my eyes on a lot of tricks I couldn't figure out.

[jimu]

If this is the one I'm thinking about, a lot of things don't make sense. Firstly, you never see the guy hand the card in and get the cash. Secondly, he won $1700-ish didn't he? Supposedly shops can only pay out up to $500, anything over that you need to go to a centre to collect. Yet this guy supposedly cashed in the card for the full amount at the shop.

I'm pretty sure it showed him cashing the card at a centre, not the shop.

[MisterJingo]

If this is the one I'm thinking about, a lot of things don't make sense. Firstly, you never see the guy hand the card in and get the cash. Secondly, he won $1700-ish didn't he? Supposedly shops can only pay out up to $500, anything over that you need to go to a centre to collect. Yet this guy supposedly cashed in the card for the full amount at the shop.

I'm pretty sure it showed him cashing the card at a centre, not the shop.

hmm i'll have to check it out, its been a while since I saw this .