Gimmick or Sleight of Hands

[nixamas]

I like sleight of hand over gimmick tricks. I still like some gimmick trick because you get amazing reactions from some of them. But my main reason for preferring sleight is that it will leave you clean afterwards.

[sebastian_alj]

I am agree with you iamthemagicman !!

Sleight + Gimmicks = Incredible efects. !

[penduko]

for me sleight of hand, but i always check if my trick and practice a lot..

[you-know-me]

sleight of hand for me but I most likley combined them both and make tricks more deceptive.

[sp0rk]

My sentiments exactly. If you keep doing sleight of hands, and your audiences keep inspecting your cards, it will come to a point where they cant be bothered to check. Thats when gimmick comes in. Thats what i hope to acheive in the future. A nicely strung together routine involving gimmicks and sleight of hands.

[zeeksheezy]

Originally Posted by sp0rk

My sentiments exactly. If you keep doing sleight of hands, and your audiences keep inspecting your cards, it will come to a point where they cant be bothered to check. Thats when gimmick comes in. Thats what i hope to acheive in the future. A nicely strung together routine involving gimmicks and sleight of hands.

Yep, I agree. Personally I think that you shouldn't be performing a gimmicked trick as the first act in a routine. You have to avoid your spectators from suspecting that you're using a gimmicked deck, coins, etc, and gain their trust right from the beginning of the routine. Like spork said, once you've allowed the spectator to inspect the cards, coins, etc, and they've found nothing unusual about it, and you successfully performed a trick and got great reactions, the spectators will have no choice but to believe that you're either really good or something magical really did happen. This is when you can sneak in a gimmick and get away with it easily.

[cameraboirzu]

what does it matter, i mean, alot of gimmicks require some sleight of hand...but

sleight of hand is better

[AndyP]

I agree - both are important to do good magic.
Even Copperfield uses gimmicks

[Jamie23516]

My preference in general is sleight of hand, it involves more practice, but I feel like I accomplished something more when I get a reaction out of someone purely with hard work and practice. In general I haven't used gimmicks much, not because I don't like them, but haven't had money to buy them with. I just got a ghost deck today (so stoked about it) and the little gimmick with the joker stepping on the ace of clubs worked so perfectly. I'm thinking about buying a gaff deck now, because the reaction I got with the simple gimmick was really intense, despite the simplicity...

[AndyP]

on the other hand - a svengali deck can give you a lot of miles

[Templar40]

A good magician uses both and works them into a creative routine that is magical and entertaining. When this is done well the spectator will never know if gimmick is being used or not. This requires creativity and ingenuity and is never easy.
Templar40

[lllusionist]

I don't use gimmiks too much because I never carry them around. If I went somewhere, with the intention of performing, I'd definately go for gimmiks. They create effects that just aren't 'Woah Mr. Fancy fingers', but learn more towards 'Your a wizard'. Of corse, you can't always carry around gimmiks so It'd be wise to learn SOME sleights.

[kuchingz]

90% of my tricks is SoH, another 10% is gimmicks, the slight of hand is has more risk than the gimmicks, but, if you do it smoothly, the SoH is better

[deguiler]

I like gimmicks.
My opinion what gimicks needed of sleight of hand too.
If you dont have sleight of hands. Gimmicks contra-indicated for you.
If you hand is good. Gimmicks good for you.

[drkrelemnts]

I prefer whichever one makes things look better. As long as the end result is great then it doesn't matter. However, sleight of hand and gimmicks go hand in hand and a lot of the time gimmicks cannot function without the sleight of hand. So when it comes down to it, sleights are more important.