Just to share an site that will interest a all Erdnase lovers (i know are many out there).
The site has just launched and offers a free PDF of Expert at the Card Table and a comprehensive Forum that covers every section in the book. It will be interesting to find post about specific sections in the book. Check it out!
Zarrow shuffle was invented in the 1940's by magician Herb Zarrow. Is a sleight of hand technique that gives the appearance of being a normal riffle shuffle, but in fact leaves the cards in exactly the same order.
As David Britland states in Phantoms of the Card table "[Zarrow] created a false riffle shuffle of such beauty that it is quite possibly the only move to have been originated by a magician and that has found its way into world of card cheating."
The shuffle is easy to learn but difficult to master
RESOURCES
One of the best resources out there is the DVD by Mr Zarrow himself. On this DVD Mr. Zarrow teaches how to execute the shuffle in great detail and with many variations. Although the DVD centers around applications for magic most of the information can also be used for false shuffles, culls and controls during play.Find it here.
You can also find a description in Giobbi's Card College Volume 3.
There are many variations of the Zarrow shuffle, one of the most popular ones is describen in a manuscrit by Gary Plants: Gary Plants on the Zarrow Shuffle is now quite relevant.
Jeff Wessmiller has published in his blog an excellent tutorial on an original false faro shuffle. It does look very similar to a real faro shuffle, so if you are a faro worker you will find it very useful. It's perfect for memorized deck work, maintaining a stack, story routines, or whatever.
The false shuffle is similar to the Heistein shuffle but applied to the faro shuffle and not to the riffle shuffle. As the Heistein shuffle, it can be done in-the-hands, up-close, and has good angles.
I don't want to finish this post without mentioning another very good false shuffle that can be performed also standing up: Guy Hollingworth's false shuffle, as described in Drawing Room Deceptions. Hollingworth's is a in the hands strip out Shuffle with waterfall, and is one of my favorites.
For table work false shuffles there are three main possibilities: the strip out, the push through and the Zarrow Shuffle. Not many people know the difference between the first two so I will provide more information:
* Strip Out shuffle: the deck is halved and the halves table riffled together. The cards are ostensibly squared, but actually are *almost* squared - the resulting measure of jogged cards constituting the "brief." One packet is then stripped out of the other in the opposite direction from which it was squared, hopefully simulating a cut. * Push Through (or, Pull Through) shuffle, after the brief has been established (or, for quick shufflers, as the brief is established), the halves are angled very slightly and pushed (or pulled) through one another prior to the strip-that-should-simulate-a-cut.
You can check the video at Jeff' blog by clicking here. RESOURCES AND OTHER FALSE SHUFFLES About the Zarrow Shuffle nothing better than check Mr Zarrow' DVD on HIS shuffle. Gary Plants has an a book on the Zarrow. Check out Wesley James's work on Zarrow's work in Enchantments.
- Aronson Strip Out by Simon Aronson in his book Simply Simon. - Artanis False Shuffle in Frank Garcia's The Close Up Magic of Frank Garcia volume one. - Riffle Diffle and Super Riffle Diffle by Harry Lorayne. Can be found at the Classic Collection. - Hank Miller shuffle - Optical shuffle explained in Royal Road to Card Magic. - World's Greatest Overhand False Shuffle" in GENII Magazine: December 2004: page 22 - G W Hunter's shuffle: great overhand shuffle. - In-the Hands-Shuffle" full deck false open riffle shuffle. It requires a table or knee to "tap" the interlaced cards against, before a strip-out from Card College 3, P. 651. - Tamariz's false overhand shuffle from Mnemonica
Maybe you are bored at home. You have practiced for hours the card trick that you recently added to your repertoire. You need something to cheer you up. Well, this is your lucky day because I have a great movie that I would like to recommend to you: The Magician (1958) by Ingmar Bergman.
The movie won the special jury prize at Venice. For the critics, this movie is a little bit lost in Bergman' filmography and is certainly underrated. The main reason for this is that it was overshadowed by the enormous success of 'The Seventh Seal' and 'Wild Strawberries' that were made in the same period. The Magician highlights the relationships between magic and science, illusion and reality, and also explore the artist's value to society and exploring such themes as illusion, faith, science and truth.
A brief synopsis: The movie is set in Sweden in 1846. Albert Emanuel Vogler (Max Von Sydow) and his magnetic health theater are moving to Stockholm, trying to escape from the accusation of charlatanism. Mr Vogler is a magician and spiritualist. He travels with his wife, disguised as a young man (Ingrid Thulin); an old woman that prepares herbal remedies and love potions (Naima Wifstrand); and the manager (Ake Fridell). The troupe is detained in the home of a prominent citizen. Doctor Vergerus (Gunnar Bjornstrand), a skeptical doctor, challenges Mr Vogler to give a demonstration of mesmerism and prove that he does in fact possess supernatural powers. The magician is humiliated by the doctor first and then the magicians exerts his revenge.
The movie doesn't provide all the answers but raises questions about supernatural powers, mentalism, magic and skepticism. In my view it criticizes everything: the skeptic fails to enjoy the art of magic, and ignores the fact that not everything can be explained. Magic and mentalism, on the other hand, can lead to abuses and charlatanism if they are not used for entertaining purposes. It comes to my mind the example of James Hydrick. As in the movie Hydrick claimed to have supernatural powers but was exposed when he was unable to prove them on TV in front of the magician and skeptic James Randi. You can check it on video here.
A beautiful performance of the linking cards effect by the great David Copperfield.
The effect: Centers openly torn from three playing cards, resulting rings are linked, unlinked, finally rings are torn to unlink, but tear is magically restored and all three cards may be examined.
The routine is based on Paul Harris' Immaculate Connection.
RESOURCES The routine can be learned from: - Immaculate Connection. Stars of Magic 1983. - Art of Astonishment Vol 2 (1996) - Stars of Magic Video #5
Several magicians have studied and proposed memorized stacks, for instance Martin Joyal' "Six Hour Memorized Deck", the Si Stebbins Stack, Richard Osterlind’s Breakthrough Card System, etc. Beyond all doubt, the two greatest magicians that devoted their life to the memorized deck magic are Simon Aronson and Juan Tamariz, both created incredible effects, methods, and developed their own special 'full deck stack'.
A quick clarification, the term "memorized stack" means that you can convert a card to its position in the deck and a position in the deck to the card that is found there. For this reason the Si Stebbins or the Osterlind' stacks don't really are memorized stacks because they are designed for an entirely different purpose: know the next card on the stack. The Si Stebbins in particular is what we know in the trade as a sequential or cyclic stack. The Joyal stack, on the other hand, is designed as a memorized stack that is very easy to memorize. Check An Introduction to Full-Deck Stacks for more detail.
If you are as big fan of the Tamariz' memorized stack as I am you will find this post interesting. The Tamariz memorized stack, also knows as Mnemonica Stack, when properly and imaginatively used, becomes a very valuable weapon in your magic arsenal. But, how can you check that you know the stack like the back of your hand? Tamariz proposes several methods in his book Mnemonica
I have prepared a training file on excel that I wanted to share with you. You may find useful if you are into the Tamariz Stack. And… there is a bonus: I have also prepared a training spreadsheet for ACAAN (Any Card At Any Number). The spreadsheet has three worksheets that are, hopefully, self explanatory: Tamariz Mnemonic Order, Check your knowledge, and A Card At Any Number (ACAAN) Trainer.
The oil and water effect is a must for all card magicians to know. The effect involves several red and black cards. The red cards traditionally represent the water and the black cards the oil. The idea behind the effect is that the colours are alternated but they refuse to mix. They continually separate even after a very visual fusion.
I differentiate two approaches to the O&W effect: the first one makes use of extra cards and can be very direct. The second one does not requires extra cards.
Today I will post three videos. Two of them them follow the 'non extra card approach' and one of them makes use of extra cards. You will need to decide what approach do you prefer. In my opinion both approaches, if they are well routined, don't necessarily jeopardize the clarity of the effect.
First two choices are the versions by Larry Jennings (February 17, 1933 – October 17, 1997) and Rene Lavand (b. September 24, 1928 in Buenos Aires). Last but not least is the Arturo de Ascanio version, known as Sleightless Oil and Water.
The Larry Jennnings' version is inspired by Ray Kosby's Cooking with Oil and Water. Certainly this version is not for magicians but I think it plays very well on a laymen audience, and that is what real magic is meant to do :). On the other hand Rene Lavand' is one of the most elegant and poetic versions. He tragically lost his right hand at the age of 9 in a car crash, just two years after having begun to practice magic as a young boy. Lavand endured a gradual entry into the magic world, self-taught because, in his own words, all books and techniques are for two-handed magicians. Watch and enjoy, because it cant be done any slower. Arturo de Ascanio (1929-1997) has an version call Sleightless Oil and Water. It can be found on the outstanding Magic Of Ascanio Vol.2 - Studies Of Card Magic by Arturo Ascanio that I fully recommend.
LARRY JENNINGS
RENE LAVAND
ASCANIO
What is your favourite O&W?
RESOURCES AND OTHER VERSIONS
Rene Lavand' version can be found on his Closeup-artistry Vol 1.
Larry Jennigs. The Complete Collection, Volumes 1 & 2" It's on the dvd: "Thoughts on Cards"
Arturo de Ascanio - La Magia de Ascanio vol 2. The first volume contains his theoretical work with essays on presentation, creativity, timing, misdirection, the psychology of palming, etc. The second and third volumes are dedicated to his effects and techniques incluiding his "culebreo" (spread) and four versions of his effect "La Dama Inquieta" (The restless lady)and his routine winner of the 1970 FISM gold medal.
Richard Vollmer effect - check Apocalypse, Vol. 1-5, page 673: three phases, impossible-looking separations, and a kicker ending
Guy Hollingworth version is on The London Collection DVD and Drawing Room Deception.
Michael Skinner "Oil and Water Ride Again" is described in Classic Sampler.
Harry Lorayne. Apocalypse, Sept. 1987 (Vol. 10, No.9).
Probably every magician has a version of oil and water. Other names worth mentioning are Anthony Owen, Sean Bogunia, Denis Behr, Helder Guimaraes, John Bannon (Shake well before use, a full deck version explained in Smoke and Mirrors), David Salomon (technicolor oil and water), David Regal (perfectly oiled), Derren Brown (check his Devil's Picturebook), Marlo, Roy Walton (Oil and Queens) (v.g the one that can be found in Marlo Without Tears), Paul Cummings (Oiled & Watered), Darwin Ortiz (Ultimate Oil and Water that can be found in Scams and Fantasies), Simon Lovell (Oily Snobs, on Disc 3 of his "The Methods Behind the Madness"), Chad Long, Alex Elmsey (from the Collected Works of Alex Elmsley #1), Jim Pace (Pennzoil and Water)
