My Favorite Card Tricks: Jason Ladanye

We asked some of magic's greatest minds to share with us their favorite card tricks. This week is the turn of Jason Ladanye. You may know him from best selling book "Game Changer", or his hit DVD set "Confident Deceptions", Over to Jason:

This is question is just about not possible to answer. It’s like asking about a favorite song, or meal. It depends on so many different things.

My top three card tricks are always changing. I'm creating new effects, and testing new material on live audiences every day. So I’m not going to answer the question but rather give you my 3 favorite plots for card tricks.

Card to Impossible Location It doesn’t matter the location. Wallet. Card box. Wherever. What I love about this effect is the gasp it almost forces your audience to give you. The “no way” they utter before you’ve even done the reveal. They know it’s going to be there, but they have no clue how you did it. The anticipation as you turn over the card is just so much fun.

Prop Bets I get such a kick out of doing these kind of effects. Often, I will explain a game that makes the spectator feel like it’s just not remotely possibly they could lose. It’s a really quick way to build a connection with your audience and for me, it helps lay out my con artist character. If you're interested in this type of effect, take a look at my routines "Game Changer" and "Catch Me if You Can."

Any New Deck Order Closer Any which way you want to slice or dice it, ending a performance with the deck back in order is tough to beat. I don’t have an immediate preference on how this happens. I’ve devised several routines. Some I shuffle. Some I even let the audience member shuffle too. Yup, I let the spectator shuffle. And then finish with the deck back in NDO. I love these plots because it proves the level of control you have over those 52 pasteboards. And it’s an almost God-like level of control.