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The Effect:
The hustler shows three cards bent down the center, one is a red face card and two are black spot cards of the same value. The hustler tosses the cards face down on the table, one at a time, and tells the spectator to follow the face card, he mixes the cards slowly, yet you pick the wrong card. The Hustler does this again, showing you where the two spot cards are right before you guess, yet your wrong again. The corner of the face card is bent, making it obvious where it is, after the hustler mixes the cards you pick the one with the bend, and your wrong!



Cost: about $19- $30 depending on where you buy, I got mine for free. (sort of)



Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

1 to 3. To do the basic routine is very easy, to do everything on the dvd takes a little practice, but all the slights are taught so you will need no previous knowledge of slight of hand.

Review:

If you are looking for a dvd that shows you how to do three card monte, this DVD will certainly deliver. It teaches how to bend the cards, mix, switch cards, pick up and throw down the face card and a spot card, making it look like two spot cards, one handed monte, switching the cards at the last second, and moving a bend in the face card to a spot card. It also briefly covers a bit the actual hustle (how it works on the street), and how to use disks rather then cards.

The teaching is very through, Piacente really tries to make sure people understand the concept. As far as the slights and workings of the tricks, its all there. He could have gone into more detail about the anatomy of the game, but the purpose is to teach you how to do three card monte, not how to hustle people.

If you are specifically interested in three card monte, and want to learn by DVD then this works fine. If you are just looking for your next trick, or want to expand your slight of hand with cards, there are probably better things to buy. This DVD really only teaches you two tricks: Classic three card monte, and a more magic forum that uses gaff cards and has more of a kicker ending. Honestly, there are no big secrets here, if you are casualy intrested in thee card monte, the main move is in Bill Tarr's Now you see it, now you don't! the DVD does have more advanced moves then that, but as I said, unless your specifically looking for a comprehensive study of the three card monte in DVD format, you probably don't need this DVD.

Overall
9/10 if you NEED three card monte 5/10 if you don't

great review! covers the whole DVD and in a indepth way. This is the best souce of information that i have found on the subject! only trouble that i found was finding discs that could be used to do it. I settled with 3 black faux coasters off ebay, haha. The card version fits in perfectly with some of my routines and is splendid when pulled off correctly!

Great review! Sal Piacente seems to be a master in this field and also did a pea and shell version of this DVD!