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Darwin Ortiz makes his living with a deck of cards. As a full- time professional close-up magician & gambling consultant he has brought the art of slight-of-hand to a new level of perfection. He is a rarity, an expert who is entertaining as he is informative. Now Darwin shares his magical secrets with you, detailing some of the effects that have made him one of magic's most respected performers.

At The Card Table, VOLUME1-3

VOLUME 1: Jumping Gemini, The Vegas Shuffle, Darwin's 3-Card Monte, The Pinky Count, Darwin's Wild Card, Hitchcock Aces, The Dream card, The Zarrow Shuffle.

VOLUME 2: Greek Poker, Modern Jazz Aces, Regal Aces, Back Off, Nine-Card Location, Do As I Did.

VOLUME 3: Mindbender, Jackpot, Fast Shuffle, The Card Warp Deck, Mexican Poker, The Ultimate Cardshark.

Virtually every review of the cardshark material raved about it from every aspect-plot presentation, method, & entertainment value.

Cardshark, Vol 1-3

The Cross, Psychotronic Card, The Showdown, One Handed Poker Deal, The Unholy Three, Museum Piece, Four To One, plus numerous slights, & moves!

Volume 2: Kartenkunske, The Phantom Card, Signature Effect, Beyond Slight-of-Hand, Blind Aces (performance only), The Marker, Darwin's Poker Deal, Harry In Your Pocket.

VOLUME 3:Blockbuster, From The Cellar, Beat The Dealer, Pick-Up on South Street, Time & Again, Face- Up Centers, The Sting (performance only), Mr Lucky.

Scams & Fantasies With Cards Vol 1-4

Impossible effects, entertaining presentations, rock-solid construction, & performing wisdom combine to produce a must-have set of DVD's for all lovers of great card magic!

VOLUME 1: The Last Laugh,Fastest Gun Alive, Darwin's Ambitious Card, Appointment in Samarra, Hitchcock Travelers, Ultimate Oil & Water, Ultimate Fusion.

VOLUME 2: Pass The Garbage, Remote Control, Maximum Risk, No Way Out, The Colour Of Money, Liar's Poker, God Of Gamblers.

VOLUME 3; The Quick & The Dead, Walk-around Triumph, Cannibal Holocaust, Ace In The Pocket, Beat The Devil, The Zen Master.

VOLUME 4: Deja Vu Poker, The Brush Combination Cull, Shark Attack, The Professional Deal.

I purchased this 10 DVD set for £74.99, & I have to say it's the best £ 75 quid I have spent on a DVD set to date.
The card material on this set is by far the best I have in my collection.
Not by any means easy, but doable with practice.
This DVD set has my thumbs up.

CArl...

That really is incredible value. Those disks contain enough material of sufficient calibre to build an entire full-time career performing card magic.

SpareJoker wrote:That really is incredible value. Those disks contain enough material of sufficient calibre to build an entire full-time career performing card magic.

Gonna keep me occupied for quite some time mate....

CArl...

He is incredible indeed. I have his Scam's series and it's really great, but a few of the effects are not for the amateur magician. For example when you have use a memorized deck and then make 4 perfect faro shuffles to get the trick done.

absoloutely huge fan of darwin ortiz....... he's so slick with his moves and he has an endearing quality that makes him fun to watch!!

thanks for the review , may have to look into this set when ive got a spare 75 bob

gunnarkr wrote:but a few of the effects are not for the amateur magician. For example when you have use a memorized deck and then make 4 perfect faro shuffles to get the trick done.

I agree gunnarkr,

However the explanation's, & illustrations are very good, & something to aim for.
I think it was SJ who said.
"Far better to have several quality routines, "

I have to agree, it may take quite some time to get many of these routines down, but the end WOW!! result is well worth the time, & effort put in.

IMHO.

CArl...

Has anyone watched his international magic lecture?

Yup. The first one is good, the second one not so much.

"Ultimate Fusion"

This has to be one of the best fusion type routines out there.
It's taken me quite some time to learn this, but it's been well worth the effort.

I cannot believe the reactions I am getting when performing this effect.
If your after a fusion type of effect, then this has to be one of the best.

CArl...

I bought this a couple years back and while i dont like Darwins mechanical style of handling and his over the top single word emphasis in sentences, i found one gem that im tweaking to my own style.

Shark Attack when combined with Subconscious Poker by R Giobi brings you the ability to deal any ranking poker hand off the the cuff to any player from a shuffled deck from the specs point of view

So you while casually shuffling the deck can ask a player what they wants and so they say " Full House". So you immediately deal out for a five handed game and state that its impossible to deal a full house until its established where they are sitting and who is the partner. They may say "im sitting at second base" and so you turn over the cards and say that you are going to use the King in an otherwise c*** (not the best) hand to make up a full house in the next deal. You then ask them who is to receive the full house and they say the player at fifh base( you can even keep the king in the same position in the hand, say in the middle)

You pick up the cards, shuffle and redeal and lo and behold the player at fifth base has three aces and two kings ( this could have been any ranking hand). And the kicker is that you then state that unfortunately " Big Tony" was playing and turn over 4th base and its a royal flush in spades

If the player requests say a Royal Flush in spades the the kicker is that you can also produce a full house at another base and state that if you deal a Royal Flush in Spades then you also need to deal a sucker hand to some poor sap who will put his house on the line

always state that you will attempt to deal the highest ranking hand that they have chosen. So if 4 of a kind it will be 4 aces and Royal Flush will be in spades etc

Whatever hand is chosen there is always a slightly lower or higher ranking hand dealt and you play it as the sucker hand or otherwise.But the player always gets the hand they chose and as the cards are dealt face down you can reveal the kicker or not as it suits you.

In fact you can deal any poker hand almost off the cuff that you like to any base that the spec desires in a five handed game including pair or two pair or any ranked poker hand. Straight , Flush , Straight flush and so on and on. I plan to use this gem after a shuffling routine that i use with cards and dice where the deck is seemingly destroyed and will indeed seem like a miracle

Sounds interesting Antera

I must say, I like Darwin's material, & he's a very approachable chap.
I've had several emails with him now, & he alway's finds the time to reply.
I have gained so much from this set of dvd's, & I would highly recommend them to anyone.

CArl...

I agree with the above pretty much 100%

btw
i made my take on Shark Attack sound a little complex but basically you can deal any ranking Poker hand to any base in a five handed game with just a quick simple overhand shuffle. It wont make you a Richard Turner but i think it will be pretty impressive. As i mentioned im working and tweaking this now and as i mentioned i worked a kicker sucker hand into the routine as well but still got a little ground to cover on this as i noticed that you cant get the kicker hand in some circumstances. If i had a degree in maths it would help

Maybe ill email Darwin himself

Darwin Shark Attack requires some very complex riffle shuffle work ...my idea is a Dummys Workout to any requested Poker Hand