A few years back I was vacationing in Florida and happened to catch a hotel act gone quite bad. A spectator, asked to hold a deck that the magician gave a false cut to, gave it a full shuffle the first chance he got. The top card was lost, the magician momentarily thrown, and the trick abandoned haphazardly.

Because his recovery wasn't swift, the magician and his performance suffered. What lines do you use for these "uh-oh" moments?

Usually I make several insulting and obscene comments about their mothers, then hurl them bodily off the stage and into a wood chipper.

That seems to work, although it does cut down on the repeat bookings.

If Peter's idea doesn't work for you... as good of an idea that it is.

Really comes down to audience management first. The audience member should not have been given the chance to shuffle or been given more clear instructions about what to do with the cards. There are subtle ways of saying "don't shuffle these" with out having to really say "don't shuffle these". But sometimes even our best audience management efforts can't stop those "uh-oh" moments. I don't really have any stock lines to use but I do have a few rules of thumb. Mainly I never blame the spectator or make them look bad (even if it really was there fault). I also make a mental note of why it happened. If I've controlled a card to the top and then a spectator shuffles like you mentioned I might finish with an invisible deck or Kolossal Killer.

If your routine involves giving the person a set up deck then place them in such a position that they cannot shuffle them.

1. in a bag
2. other hand on top
3. hold them up in the air.
ETC

Paula

Just go into another effect?

They don't know what you were about to do, do they?

Fon

A. Glimpse the card and find it after they shuffle.
b. Tell them to hold out one hand flat out, place the deck on it, and tell them to place their other hand on top. If you give them specific instructions, they won't think of anything else.