Diamond Jim Tyler, to echo Mike Close’s useful cognomen, is a worker. That is, he has spent many years plying and perfecting his trade with lay people, not just other magicians. And he did this in the challenging environment we call the Real World, doing it under fire in real-life conditions. This makes a big difference; and this is a difference you will discover as you study this compressed field-manual of Tyler’s personal research-and-development.

Pockets Full of Miracles contains 29 presentations (not tricks), which have a proven track record. They have been tried, tested, and confirmed by Tyler over many years, with many, different kinds of audiences. They work. They "get the money." They are, to use Close’s other definition of the term, "workers." In other words, they fall under an enduring category (of trick) where "every last performance detail has been thought out," including all patter, misdirection, and audience management—not to mention the actual action-steps of the physical presentation.

Back in the 70s when close-up magic began grabbing the attention of amateur magicians in a big way, restaurant-magic was the Venue of the Day, also leading to the atmospheric, episodic venue now called Walk-Around or Strolling Magic. Prior to this, there were only a few well-known restaurant-bar magicians: Bert Allerton, Dr. Jaks, Matt Schulien, Johnny Paul, Jim Ryan, Hebe Haba Al, and Don Alan. When this trend gained momentum, I was asked by a renowned restaurant owner in New Orleans to perform at one of his establishments, a place called P.O.E.T.S. I worked there for about three years and it proved to be an enlightening experience. At the time I knew lots of tricks and hundreds of others were readily available. There was no shortage of apparently good material. So, when I began, my three close-up cases were jam-packed with the latest "stuff." My pockets bulged with packet tricks, sponge balls, color-changing knives, Chop cups, invisible thread—you name it! I also had dozens of "magician-foolers" in my rehearsed repertoire; I was ready to knock them dead. However, what I quickly learned was the truth of Eugene Burgers observation that "professional magicians perform the same tricks for different spectators, whereas amateur magicians perform different tricks for the same spectators." While I had lots of different tricks, many audience-tested on magicians, I did not have a repertoire of "workers." After six weeks of trial-and-error, hitting and missing, and undergoing a barrage of reality-checks, I dumped most of the stuff in my close-up cases and slowly started discovering what worked and didn’t work. It took three months to develop about six "workers."

I mention my own experience along these lines because at the time, there were a small number of guidebooks regarding this venue. Mike Close, Eugene Burger, and others had not yet written their books. Today, aspiring magicians are lucky. There are many books written by "workers" who "have been there; done that." Take advantage of them. Take advantage of Diamond Jim Tyler’s experience. His book, the one now in your hands, is a distillation of his hard-earned experience working in the trenches. It is his testament and gift to you. If you like, perform each presentation as it is written. Play around. Test. Enjoy the helpful glossary. However, afterwards I suggest that you study the underlying approaches and examine what is sometimes called sub-text. If you do this, reading between the lines as well, you will be rewarded. You will save yourself a lot of time and trouble, expediting your own progress in the hardscrabble road to becoming a "worker." It worked for Diamond Jim. It can work for you.