From: http://stores.lulu.com/booksbytomo
Price: £9.99
Ease of sleights: 1-2 in my opinion...not a pass in sight...
This is the third full on book by Tomo...and this is my review...On occassion, i've felt that i've had to gloss over some effects a little, purely 'cos i don't want to give too many clues as to "how to"...yes, yes, the title gives it all away - but the subtleties behind it all aren't for me to tell...anyways...Here's how i've broken it down:
block manipulations - how to shuffle and maintain your stripped cards and stack - dead easy, and natural..just how it should be...
FALSE CUTS AND SHUFFLES - a small selection of the best way to carry out, well, false cuts and shuffles with your stack...again, the natural look of them is the thinking behind it all...
THE SI STEBBINS STACK - what it is, why it is, and how to use it...
APPLYING SI STEBBINS
a treatise on:
partial stacks
creating partial stack routines
appendix - stacking others:
envelopes/billets etc
and a secret final prediction effect!
1. shuffles:
half stack/running shuffle/knuckle break/Hindu collection strip
how to's:
BOTTOM COLLECTION
PRECISION STACK SPLIT
DEALING WITH AN INDIFFERENT TOP CARD
effects:
THE SUPER-EASY PSYCHIC MEMORY EFFECT
a cheeky little version of a hans trixer thing, the spectator and yourself shuffles the deck and then asking the spectator to pick a number - you name the card that is at the number...you count down, and there it is...
THE “FOUR KING” RITUAL EFFECT
(please say the title quickly for comedy effect!)
A shuffled deck version of an effect by Oscar Weigle where by the power of the mighty stripper, the participant miraculously deals the 4 kings after shuffling in a victorian good luck ritual...
THE “CONSORTING WITH KINGS” EFFECT
a hot stripper sandwich!
FALSE CUTS AND SHUFFLES
OVERHAND FALSE SHUFFLE
THE CHARLIER SHUFFLE REVISITED
THE MULTI CHARLIER
TOP TO BOTTOM CHARLIER
FALSE PACKET SHUFFLES
CYCLIC CUTS PART ONE-THRU-TO-THREE
THE FAKE MUSCLE READING EFFECT
ever wondered how to respond to “Go on then, perform your miracles with these.” and having a deck thrust at you? a special little stack does the dirty work so you don't have to...
THE “FAMILIARITY EFFECT”
an experiment in voice modulation...well...chicanery at it's finest at least..it could also be could "how to shut know-it-alls up"...
THE SI STEBBINS STACK
this is really stripping the skin off the back of a stack. the mightY si stebbins! a treatise on how it works, why it works, and even more importantly, some very unusual properties contained with its hallowed stack...
THE MENTAL BLACKBOARD EFFECT
a cheeky imaginary blackboard in the mind is used to total up two values...and you name the total!
THE OTHER CLAIRVOYANT EFFECT
a stacked and stripped version of ACAAN...
THE SYNCHRONICITY EFFECT
Shuffle a deck, and ask the spectator to cut it then take four cards from the cut point. Completing the cut, you shuffle again, cut the deck yourself and take four cards. You turn your four over and ask the spectator to do the same. Your cards are of the same suits as hers, and one lower in value than hers.
A MULTIPLE, SHUFFLED PREDICTION EFFECT
you show how to use intuition, clairvoyance, call it what you will, to find the values of several cards at once.
AN INVISIBLE PREDICTION EFFECT 1 & 2
A pre-predicted choice freely made by a spectator...and then again revealed!
THE SI STEBBINS 4 STACK
a small treatise on the 4 stack...
5. APPLYING SI STEBBINS
A much larger treatise covering stacking:
tarot
rhine cards -plus 2 effects, a matching of symbols and a divination kinda predictive effect
numerical cards
alphabet cards - and the words you can spell with them...
THE ALPHABET TEST EFFECT
This stunning test owes its origin to the effect “Waiting Place for Unknown Thoughts (Method 2)” by Theodore Annemann, as published in his “Practical Mental Magic”. Annemann used two decks combined, but this effect uses just one and contains more apparent choices of word than the original.
THE MYSTERY MESSAGE EFFECT
You show a set of alphabet cards to be thoroughly mixed but shuffle them anyway. Now you ask the spectator for a number between one and ten. You take that many cards from the deck, mix them up and place the cards in a pile on the table. Again, you ask for a number, take that many cards from the deck, shuffle them and set them down. You repeat the exercise until all the cards are in piles.
a strange message now appears!
partial stacks
A treatise on partial stacks, how and when to use them...and for what...8 effects included - which i deliberately won't go into..as I'm a little careful about tipping the methods..well, you know the overall method by the title of the book - but the applications...sorry!
UPDATING OLD EFFECTS WITH A PARTIAL STACK
a how to, along with demos...
7. CREATING PARTIAL STACK ROUTINES
a treatise on how to put them together and when to use them...
appendixstacking envelopes, billets and others...
finally...A FINAL INVISIBLE PREDICTION EFFECT
eight envelopes..one cased deck of cards...and a matching prediction...
Overall and comments:
Right, now, i was never much of a stripper man, nor a stacking kinda guy...but slowly, as i taught my creaking brain the virtues of such; i became quite the fan...
like Jon's first book, The Stripper Deck, this is a very strong and very well explained treatise on the myriad of applications at your disposal of the stripper deck, combined with a stacking system...
If you're new to stacking, don't worry - everything is explained in full, with little charts and demonstrations throughout. Once you learn it - that's it...And it's very simple, simple enough even for me to learn it after a couple of hours or so...
What i really liked about this book is how you get taught the principle first, then shown how to apply what you've just read into an effect or two. Infact, there's a whole section purely on "how to put a partial stack" into an effect, both new and old.
For the price especially, i think Jon has excelled himself - this is a massive expansion on the first stripper book, and now poured into the mix is the stacking element. Two powerful and often overlooked tools in the modern-day way of card work it seems to my eyes at least...
if we were to conside Psynpe on dvd (reviewed i think on here - cant remember who released it - sorry), which was roughly sixteen quid, and this for a friendly tenner...I'm guessing you'd be very happy with your tenner
once you get to grips with the principles, you have a fresh new world of chicanery and deviousness to play with - whether its ESP testing, card work, tarot, mentalism and even humble envelopes and other such tools...
and i especially liked the alphabet deck stack, if you add in a book test or word force...excellent!
one of my ow now favourite effects infact uses a stacked tarot deck - and the responses i get are marvellous...and i especially look forward to playing around with the envelopes method soon...just apply your own creativity to what you will learn from this book - and away you go...
you don't necessarily have to own the first book to buy this, though if you're brand new to stripping
i'd say try it..you may just get the taste for it...
a cracking little book - full to the brim with strippers and stacking uses...hard to fault, very usable - and I'm sure Tomo can answer any harder questions for you if he sees this review...
9/10 - spot on Tomo...well done...
