DVD: Michael Ammar’s "Easy To Master Card Miracles" Vol1.
DVD: £21.95 from http://www.emagictricks.co.uk
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=4334
The Review
This is the first Michael Ammar ETMCM DVD that I have seen, and I must admit that I am very impressed. As Mr. A said himself, these are card tricks easy enough for the beginner, but powerful enough for any professional to include. Well after watching the DVD I have to agree.
Each trick is split into 4 phases.
- a) Mr. Ammar performs the trick to a small audience of 4 or 5 people
- b) He then explains how the trick is done
- c) Then there is a “Special Practice Session” where some of the “moves” are shown in detail, at various speeds and angles.
- d) Then there is a “Secrets behind the trick” session where Mr. Ammar discusses some subtleties for the trick, often using the authors own take on the trick.
All in all this for me makes a really great DVD. If the others are of the same quality, then I would say they would be a great asset in anyone’s collection.
Although particularly aimed at the beginner or intermediate I would say that the tricks here are still all pretty powerful and wouldn’t be surprised to see any professional using any of the tricks in their performance.
The last trick on the DVD is a “bonus” trick that comes with a gimmick. As far as I know each of the ETMCM DVD’s come with a bonus trick that includes a gimmick of some sort. Again, this is something else that makes this DVD a cut above the rest.
Difficulty.
This DVD shows 10 tricks which are all pretty easy. There are some sleights used, but for the most part nothing more than a DL.
1=Easy peasy lemon squeasy, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used, 4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
The Tricks
1. 8 Card Brainwave (Nick Trost)
The magician talks of experimenting with psychology, and shows the faces of 8 cards to the spectators. The magician claims that a prediction has been made and asks one of the spectators to think of any of the eight cards. When Ammar did this he did the “Now change your mind” routine, which I must confess I love using.
“Think of any of these cards. Got one? Ok, now change your mind and think of any other card. Ok? So now your thinking of a card you didn’t even know you were thinking of, so I couldn’t possibly know.”
Anyway, after this he asks the spectator to name their card, and when they do he looks slightly surprised, finds their card and lays it face up on the table.
He then shows the backs of all the remaining cards as being red, and says – would you believe it but the one card you thought of was the only blue card in the packet, at which point he turns over their thought of card – which is, as he said – blue.
I must confess that seeing this I knew how it was done, but only because I do a similar trick using eight dollar bills. It uses what is (IMHO) a classic move of magic, and if you don’t know it already then this in itself is worth buying the DVD for.
2. Red Hot Mama (Ryan/Everhart/Leech)
This is an old and very famous trick that many will already know of in one form or another. This particular version is as good as most.
A card is freely selected from a deck of blues cards by a spectator, and then is hidden in the deck. The magician shows that it can easily be re-found, as the card selected is the only one that has a red back. Sure enough the card is found and placed face down on the table.
The magician says that although they normally don’t repeat a card trick – in this case they will make an exception, and another card is selected and hidden in the deck. The cards are spread again – but this time there seems to be no red card.
Has the trick gone horribly wrong?
No, of course not – The magician notices the face down card from the previous trick, and says – well as that is the only red card – then that must be the one.
Which of course when he turns it over it is.
This is a great trick – another – dare I say it, “classic” card trick. There are numerous variations though, and so many cardicians will already know it.
As a side note – I have to admit that I already include Scott Guinn’s variation of this trick in my repertoire, but ALL practitioners of card magic should know this trick.
3. Acrobatic Aces (Braue/Piet Forton)
This is a very visual “changing aces” routine. A Spectator picks out four indifferent cards trying to find the 4 aces, and obviously gets them all wrong. The magician claims this isn’t a problem and so places three of the selected cards face down on the table and then slides the face up 4th card underneath. He then flips over the 3 cards showing that they have now changed to the three aces – and of course the fourth card in his hand, which was visible all the time, has also changed to the last ace.
This is a very nice – very visual trick, that leads very nicely onto the next trick.
4. The Secret to a Perfect Royal Flush
The patter for this involves asking the spectators if they want to learn how card sharks cheat at poker. You tell them that one way is when they gather up the cards from a previous round, ensuring for example that the four aces are placed on the bottom. They then deal out 5 hands of poker, but when it comes to dealing their own hand they deal off the bottom – and very obviously this is exactly what you do. You tell them that when done at speed this isn’t spotted by anyone.
The hands are looked at, and indeed you will have the winning hand with 4 aces.
Well so far they are more fascinated than impressed, so you ask if they wish to see it done at speed. The cards are gathered up and placed on the deck, and this time the 5 hands are dealt at speed – with the spectators eagle eyes on the dealer – watching for any deals off the bottom, which the spectators wont have spotted.
When the hands are turned over again, it will be seen that this time you have managed to deal yourself an ace high royal flush in spades…
Well, most people will be very aware of this trick as it is explained in the RRTCM, nevertheless I do believe it still has a place on this DVD.
For starters it is perfect to do after the previous trick, and secondly it is probably the easiest trick on the DVD, and yet none the less powerful for it.
Since viewing the DVD I have performed this a couple of times now, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how impressed everyone has been. Michael Ammar explains that this is because you are supposedly confiding in the audience.
This just goes to show that even with all the amazing routines in RRTCM, sometimes it takes seeing the trick actually performed to spur us on to using it. It certainly makes me want to re-read that book to see what else is in there that I have overlooked.
I will also add that with a little inventive thinking that (IMO) it is actually possible to make this trick a little stronger by making the other hands also better than average – ie, by including the odd 3 of a kind or 2 pair.
5. Triumph (Dai Vernon)
A card is selected by the spectator and lost in the deck. The magician then explains that he did this trick one time to a spectator who was desperate to catch him out, and when he said he was going to shuffle the cards the spectator insisted that not only should he (the spec) shuffle the cards, but he wanted to do it with the magicians back turned.
The magician then demonstrates what the spectator did. He cuts the pack, turned over one half and then riffle shuffled them altogether, half upside down, half right way up and the other half neither up nor down (just seeing if you are still reading).
Obviously the magician claims this put him in a bit of a fix, and indeed he cuts the pack at various places showing that the cards are totally mixed up. Some face up some face down.
Well not being put off by this the magician majestically waves his hand over the deck, and hey presto – the cards are spread showing that they are now all face down, with the exception of a single card. The one chosen by the spectator.
My goodness, another classic card trick, that in itself has numerous variations. This is perhaps one of the more difficult tricks on the DVD – but after a small amount of practice time, still very doable.
6. Further than that (Stewart James)
This is a trick that has it’s own marketing slogan. You tell the spectator that you are going to show them a card trick that is so good it has it’s own name. It’s called “Further than that”.
You get them to randomly select a card, and then place it back in the deck. You tell them that the deck itself will tell you the card they selected, and after holding it up to your ear and riffling through a few times, you nod knowingly and claim that the deck told you the card was – for example the ace of spades.
You then tell the audience, that normally this is where the trick would end, but this one goes… Further than that.
You say that as it was the ace of spades, you will use that fact to find their card, and so you deal off three cards into a pile, counting A C E, and then you deal off another 6, counting S P A D E S.
You then turn over the next card and show that it is in fact their card – the Ace of spades.
You then tell the audience, that normally this is where the trick would end, but this one goes… Further than that.
You now turn over the 3 card pile and show that it is in fact the other 3 aces.
You then tell the audience, that normally this is where the trick would end, but this one goes… Further than that. By this time, they are starting to join in with the slogan.
You now turn over the 6 card pile and show that it is in fact the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of spades.
And if that wasn’t enough, you look at the audience and say normally this is where the trick would end but… and by now everyone is saying it together, this one goes Further than that.
Finally you deal off another 4 cards from the top of the deck and show that with your ace of spades you have dealt an ace high royal flush in spades.
And you can’t say fairer than that…
7. Las Vegas Leaper (Paul Harris)
This is a variation on a “Cards Across” routine.
The magician takes off a packet of cards from the deck, and asks a spectator to count the cards. There are 10. Just to make sure that the magician can’t get to the cards, the spectator is asked to sit on them.
The magician then takes another three cards and counts them in his hands explaining that he will make them disappear one by one. And sure enough – one by one the disappear. Before the last card goes the magician makes sure that the last card is remembered.
The spectator is asked to count the cards that they were sitting on, and sure enough there are now 13. The magician turns the last one over, and sure enough it was the last card that disappeared from the magicians hand.
The magician offers to do it again, and asks the spectator to hold the cards close to their chest – and with three quick riffles, aimed at the cards in the spectators hands the magician claims the deed is done.
Sure enough when the spectator counts the cards again, there are now 16.
This trick is a good example of Michael Ammars amazing misdirection skills, but nothing too strenuous.
8. Cannibal Kings (Lin Searles)
This is a very clever, and powerful trick. The magician explains that often he opens a deck of cards only to find that some are missing. The magician explains that this is because of the Cannibal Kings (that’s what the K stands for don’t you know).
The magician removes the kings and holds them in his hand whilst he asks the spectators to select three random cards.
One by one these cards are fed into the packet of 4 kings, in a very visual cards eating card kind of a way. There is also a little burp after each card is digested, and the four cards are spread after each meal to prove that there are only the 4 kings left.
After the third card is eaten the kings start eating themselves, and one by one they disappear, 4 become 3, 3 become 2 and finally 2 become one.
At this point the last king is cut into the middle of the deck (he is cut open) and inside his stomach can be seen the other 4 kings and their lunch time meals (namely the spectators cards).
This is possibly one of my favourite tricks on the DVD . It isn’t exactly the same routine as discussed to talk magic here, but nevertheless a nice variation.
9. A night at the improv. (Eric Mead)
This is a simplified version of Sam the Bellhop, which ifor those that don’t know is a full deck story. That is to say the cards are turned over one by one and a story is told using the cards that turn up. For example it starts off with Sam Spade (Ace of spades) who is 6 foot (6 hearts) 2 inches (2 clubs).
The presentation of this is totally different to other versions of Sam the Bellhop I have seen. It is sold as being a “clever clever” bit of improvisation with a completely random deck. For me this smacks a little too much of just being a smart *rse, and although admittedly much simpler than other versions, it just seems to lack something. Don’t get me wrong – we all like to be thought of as being clever (or at least skilled), but the patter for this version actually isn’t as strong as some.
One of my favourite versions is one David Regal does on “Premise, Power & Participation - volume 4” called “After Hours”. This not only incorporates all sorts of flourishes and sleights of hand, but also (IMO) tells a stronger story.
All in all though this sort of trick isn’t for everyone, but I still think that it has it’s place on this DVD as the trick itself I would class as a classic. I think that any trick that has numerous variations created from it’s premise can be termed a classic.
10. BONUS. The insurance Policy (Tommy Wonder)
This is just a downright easy and immensely fun trick to do. You explain that as a magician you had to take out an insurance policy in case any trick you do doesn’t go right and in fact as the bonus gift you can even show this policy to the spectators. You place the policy back into your pocket, and start a trick.
You ask the spectator to pick a card, hide it in the deck and then shuffle the cards. The spectator does all of this themselves. You then tell them that magically you will make there card jump to the top.
You turn over the top card – with a flourish and a “Tada” only to be told that that wasn’t the spectators card. Bummer!.
Ok…you pause.
What I meant was that the top card is a marker card, and so if the card was say the 9H you ask the spectator to count down 9 cards.
Again with a flourish and a “Tada” you turn over the 9th card.
Again the spectator sniggers as they tell you that that wasn’t the card.
Ok…You pause. I guess it’s time to read the insurance policy. Basically now you read it out line by line – until the punch line which is on the back reveals their selection.
As I said. This is great fun to do, and as it is so easy you really can concentrate on the patter and presentation.
Rating. Effect/item: 10/10, Quality of goods: 10/10, Value for money: 10/10
Bottom Line.
I can’t really fault this DVD. It is a selection of powerful, yet easy tricks that really all beginners should know as they all keep cropping up time and time again.
The tricks chosen are very well thought out, and in many cases some of them gel together to form a routine. For example, Acrobatic aces leads nicely on to “the Secret of the perfect Royal flush”
The only annoying thing (if any) is Michael Ammars laugh. Not sure why it bugged be so much, but once you have picked up on it – it just seems to grate a little. If your read this Mr. Ammar – please accept my apology now – this is genuinely the only thing I could think of to criticise on the DVD.
I will also say that whenever this DVD is advertised it always mentions “Card Thru Table” as a trick which is on the DVD. Maybe this was on the video version, but it certainly wasn’t on the DVD. Still, I don’t think I should mark it down just for that.
- i couldn't help myself - i got a great a bargain offer) and these are definitely one of my best DVD investments yet (along with the Wonder / Osterlind and Malone sets). The quantity / range and quality of the effects are incredible.
