talkmagic.co.uk

Product: Si Stebins Unplugged - Ebook

From: www.trickshop.com

Price: $9.95

Difficulty: 1, 2 and possibly 3 out of 10.

They say:

While most magicians and mentalists are familiar with the Si Stebbins System, very few ever tap its true potential. In SI STEBBINS UNPLUGGED, you'll learn how to perform miracles with any deck - even if you're a newcomer to magic! Best of all, it will be a deck that you can use not just for one trick, but for an entire performance of entertaining, commercial card magic effects. What's more, when you're done, the deck can be fully examined! Of how many other trick decks can the same be said? Whatever your current skill level,SI STEBBINS UNPLUGGED will show you how to add this powerful weapon to your own arsenal. Clearly-written explanations and over 50 photographs detail every aspect of the system - from basic handling to innovative concepts and techniques designed to elevate your work into the miracle class. You will also be introduced to ideas that will make your handling cleaner and more efficient than ever before.

I say:

I have a special interest in Si Stebbins and thought I’d worked out most of what’s possible myself from first principles. I was, I’m happy to say, wrong. Presented in a 54-page ebook format, “Si Stebbins Unplugged” splits into four sections.

First is a history lesson and general overview of the stack, what it enables you to do and the relationships between the cards. This isn’t completely comprehensive, but it’s a great introduction to the stack. Next comes a section on aids and preparation of the deck, covering shorting and several techniques for making indicator cards to show where you are in the stack, roughing techniques, the ID and making a peek case. These extras are things that will enhance your magic using Si Stebbins order and are well worth the $9.95 alone.

Next comes a section on general techniques, shuffles and cuts. These are comprehensive, but given the overall comprehensiveness of the book, I wondered why there was no mention of the stripper deck. I use Si Stebbins on a stripped deck to enable me to perform a Charlier shuffle, and riffle shuffle followed by a false Hindu cut to return the stack to its original state, which looks terrific and truly randomising.

Anyway, the final section details sixteen classic effects covering mentalism, a do-as-I-do routine, poker and even a book test. “Card on mind”, for instance, is a lovely effect where the thought-of card appears on the performer’s forehead.


Overall 9/10. For the price, if you’ve never been into stacked decks, get this book. It’s peppered with good black and white photographs to help you, and much more besides a description of the sainted stack. Being able to handle Si Stebbins ordered decks will give you another method of creating your own material. This is essential in a time when there's always going to be someone who thinks it 's clever to tell you they've seen your stuff on YouTube. If you create your own, they won't have seen it anywere.

Thanks for the review Tomo. I bought this a few weeks ago and haven't regretted it!! I'm finding that the card stab and book test both get great reactions every time I use them. Been using 'The Da Vinci Code' as it's almost a 100% certainty that every household has a copy somewhere! You can just wander over and casually pluck it from the bookshelf.

A few minutes to download, 10 mins to print it out, stick it in a folder and it now sits proudly on my magic shelf!!

Ok maybe I'm being plain stupid here(It aint hard these days).
On page 3 it describes the finding any card routine. For anyone who has this, can they please tell me what they do when the card mentioned is higher than one of the bottom cards, ie it cant be subtracted otherwise you would have a minus number.

Maybe I'm misreading or just not getting the plot

The tip at the bottom of page 10 might help solve your negative number problem - (add 13 before you start).