Three Hurrahs! By Ross Tayler

Someone once asked me what, in my opinion, was the most powerful effect possible with playing cards…

I told them it was a stupid question, and that the power of a magical experience was more dictated by context and your relationship with the spectator than by the effect itself.

We are no longer close friends.

However, had I been in a less pretentious mood, I may well have said Dai Vernon’s Triumph.

A chaotic mess of face up and face down cards writing itself, with the exception of the participant’s selection, is one of the clearest and most striking expositions of magic I can imagine.

In this project, I give three approaches (in fact several more, due to variations), which aim to highlight the conditions which make the effect feel so impossible: a sense of genuine chaos, and the appearance of the performer never even touching the cards. Indeed several methods in this project occur from start-to-finish in the participant’s hand, and could even be performed over the phone.

These are direct and deceptive methods, and I really believe contribute something new to this classic and thoroughly explored plot.

I hope you enjoy them!