talkmagic.co.uk

What they say
A DVD by two top magicians/gambling cheats who have compiled some of the best sleight of hand/gambling techniques into a DVD. It is no longer sold, but I'm sure it pops up on eBay every now and then. But is it worth it? Well, I don't know, but read on..

Cost
Varies as it is no longer sold. eBay holds the answer!


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)
Mostly 5


Review
So I had always heard a lot about this DVD. Namely because of the McMillan (or is it McMillian?) Switch. I only just got my hands on a copy though.

The production is very basic and cost free. It is filmed in their homes by each other, but this does not affect the teaching quality.

I will start with Jason England's section.

Centre Steal Control - A utility move to move a card near the bottom of the deck

It isn't original, but Jason does it very well. He shows you can move the card not only to the bottom, but to second from bottom, or third, fourth etc..

He then goes onto a Fake Centre Deal Demo that uses this. It requires you to do a Greek Deal though, and I suspect most people willing to learn a Greek Deal will be willing to learn a Centre Deal. Nice bit of filler for you there. 6/10

Dealing 3irds - A convincing method of dealing Thirds

Complete and utter waste of time. A ridiculous way of dealing thirds. Completely impractical. His inspiration for this is much better than his "improvements", meaning this is nothing but filler. It pretty much uses a gimmick for God's sake! 0/10

Riffle Stacking Tips - Put these tips to use and you'll look like a seasoned expert.

I kind of liked this. It's cute. He only gives one tip here, and it is an idea originally expressed in a whole book on the subject written by Jerry Sadowitz, but with no credits. 5/10 - it would have been more if credit was given where due

An Ace Revelation- A mysterious way of locating the Aces with tips on other applications of this idea.

Uses the same "gimmick" as the 3ird Deal he explained earlier. It looks nice, but I can't see anybody using this because of the impracticality of the thing. Plus it requires up to 4 Faro shuffles, which nobody wants really.

The tips are to use a selected card rather than the four Aces. Brilliant. 4/10

Advanced Riffle Stacking Tips - Locating four of a kind from a shuffled deck

Another thing on this DVD ripped straight from Sadowitz. I can understand why Jerry hates everyone so much now! Credit is given to him this time though, and his ground breaking variation is to start with a stack on the deck, which kind of defeats the point!

It is very, very good though, and he does it very well indeed. 6/10 - it would be more but it's that credit issue again..

The McMillan Switch - A legendary on the table card switch.

I would have thought a lot of you have seen this before, it is available on Theory11 as a download. He does it well, but it isn't invisible which is contrary to what he states. I would suggest heading the Theory11 if you want to learn this, at least he got permission to teach it there. 6/10

R Paul Wilson

Master of the Same - Deal a full house from a shuffled deck Paul's take on David Britland's MASTER OF THE GAME

I do like this. He teaches a cull that I hadn't seen before, but I know it isn't his, and he doesn't give any credit to the original creator of the cull.

I'm sure someone might use this effect. 6/10

Thumb Picking - Cut the aces from a shuffled deck

This is lifted from FASDIU by Paul Cummins. Paul adds the brilliance of palming out the cards so the spec can shuffle the deck. He also changes to riffle shuffle to a "biased" (as he calls it) Faro shuffle. Utterly rubbish justification for keeping this on the DVD. 3/10 - simply because it shouldn't be there!

Tupalo Paul- A card memorization effect that culminates in the performer dealing 4 hands of 4 of a kind.

Not as good as the original by Pit Hartling in Card Fictions. More confusing, and he hasn't added anything to it. So this, again, shouldn't be on the DVD. 3/10

2ndSeconds Out- A false second deal routine with a kicker ending.

I quite liked this. It is essentially a bunch of multiple turnovers to achieve the look of dealing seconds. Although, when I say multiple turnovers, at one point he passes off 6 cards as 1. I would presume if you are comfortable enough trying to get away with a Sextuplet Lift (oh yeah!), then you should really be able to do a good Second Deal. 7/10 for creativity though

Central Pack - A convincing fake center deal

This is a nice routine. Ortiz has similar work, though, and Paul teaches a nice hide-out procedure inspired by Marlo. You will need to be able to do a Pass, but it is done from a spread so you do have options. 7/10

Second Deal Tips - 2nd Deal tips from around the world.

I suppose this has it's place in a Gambling DVD, maybe as a bonus or something, but not on the main list of content. They aren't particularly smart and have all been expressed by different people before. 3/10

Demonstration Mucks - On the table switches of cards. FIVE 4 FIVE switch 5 indifferent cards for a Royal Flush

He does it very well, although it really couldn't fly in a game! No-one could do this well enough to fly in a game. You can see it in the title sequence in the film Shade. Credit is given to the original that was done with 2 cards, and Paul has done it with 5, which simply must give him the rights to teach it. 5/10

Overall

A great DVD, if it was original. At least credit is given occasionally, and if people are unaware of original sources of these, then this DVD is a good buy.

If you like people giving minor variations on brilliant, existing effects that if anything takes away from the original, which means you are giving money to the wrong person, then, buy this DVD.

If, however, you like a little honesty, stick to the originals.

Average of scores given..... 5/10!!

Thanks for that review, Babyshanks. Very thorough, and I especially appreciate your stance on giving proper credit. Probably will stick with the sources I've got and some of the others you've named, rather than scouring ebay for this. Thanks again.