The Most Important Out Of All.. Imagine two different people doing the same card trick. One person is an amateur, the other, a professional magician. Imagine that that trick goes wrong. The amateur giggles nervously, apologizes and starts over. The professional magician, without skipping a beat, continues on with the trick and still manages to fool you. The reason? It’s about an idea known among magicians as “Outs”. “Outs” are contingency plans for magicians. When learning or constructing a new trick, a magician will try to determine all the possibilities where things can (and probably will) go wrong in the execution of the trick. Then, the magician can work out realistic possible solutions for each of these possible outcomes. Time is often dedicated during practice specifically to these “Outs” so that when and if they ever happen, the transition through the mistake is seamless, and the audience isn’t aware […]