Sleight of Hand - Misdirection

Misdirection

Performers often encourage their audience to believe they have used sleight of hand when they are actually using another principle or gimmick as the means of misdirecting the audience. For example, if one is performing something as simple as the appearing/disappearing coins using a thumb tip, the trick lies in the gimmick, but the audience is led to believe that the performer has done something very complex to hide the coins. This directs them away from thinking of a method as simple as the thumb tip.