When I started writing a weekly magic newsletter, a few people asked whether I'd eventually run out of things to write about. The answer was and always will be, nope. In the ten years I've spent working on magic TV shows, I've absorbed a lifetime of magic knowledge. I can talk and not stop talking about magic.
Putpocketing is totally new to One Ahead.
I've never mentioned it in the three years we've been doing this every week!
Well, what is it?
Well, it's the opposite of pickpocketing.
Instead of stealing an item from someone, you're planting it upon them.
Sometimes, you'll do both. You might pickpocket someone's wallet, add something, and then return it to their pocket for a later reveal.
Putpocketing tends to be an opportunity device magicians use when they notice a spectator has an easily accessible pocket or similar, which they can exploit. I recommend against using it in this scenario. It always feels forced, inevitable and more like a joke than a trick. People tend to understand what happened because the trick is rushed, improvised, and unthought-through.
My advice is to focus on the pacing of any routing which involves putpocketing and be sure to add convincers like good acting, time misdirection and equivoke. You need to really divert people away from the idea that you putpocketed them earlier.
