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After spending a bit of time learning the faro shuffle, I have come to find very little use for it. Does anyone now any tricks where I could use this, or is just something that kind of looks cool?

Hi Robert,

Paul Gordon does a fantastic trick called 'Easy Ace Estimation' for which the Faro is a vital part. The effect is a variation on an ace cutting trick but really does baffle spectators. The Faro needs to be perfect (at least for the first half of the deck). At the end Paul uses a revelation called the Benzais spincut, which I find very difficult and use Daryl's hot shot cut instead. However, there are many different ways that you could choose to reveal the final ace as you have it under total control (as long as your Faro was perfect!). The trick is on his video/DVD 'Paul Gordon - The London Lectures' and I'm sure it will be in one of his books. It is well worth mastering as it really does seem impossible to the spec. Try looking for info at www.natzler.com which is one of Paul's websites.

Hope that's of use.

James

John Bannon has a nice sandwich effect in his excellent and highly-recommended book "Dear Mr. Fantasy". However the book I have encountered which makes the most use of it is the equally-recommended "Power Plays" by Mike Powers. There are a few effects in there utilising a Perfect Faro Shuffle.

Lennart Green, Marlo etc. etc.

All the 'great' cardies have a routine with the faro I'd imagine.

Hmmm... perhaps if we mention Faros enough, Brad at E. will get some mascara out and do us a whole DVD/download dedicated to them?

seige wrote:Lennart Green, Marlo etc. etc.

All the 'great' cardies have a routine with the faro I'd imagine.

Hmmm... perhaps if we mention Faros enough, Brad at E. will get some mascara out and do us a whole DVD/download dedicated to them?

Do you have no business sense man? I have told you before, and I will tell you again. Just borrow your missus' eyeliner and away you go! Nums presents 'Sticking it in - the complete guide to k-rad faros!'

Maybe some eyeliner will come up on the giving thread?

Aunt Marys terrible secret
Computerised deck (G. Griffin complete card magic)
Marlo opener (Sal Piacente lecture notes)

these are three that spring to mind

The 'unshuffled' trick is a good one. It can be used for stacking a clump of cards before a poker deal or similar. If I remember rightly one of The Collected Works Of Alex Elmsley (I forget which volume, sorry) has a whole section dedicated to effects with the shuffle.

There are some great effects in Harry Loraynes apocolypse that make use of the faro.

I am getting the impression here that people are under the assumption that the Faro needsto be performed on a whole deck.

Let's just make it clear: the Faro can be done (sensibly) with as little as 3 cards.

A perfect example is Oil & Water... certain iteration of this use a Faro.

Marlo's 'Riffle Shuffle Techniques' uses the Faro a lot. He refers to it as the Faro Riffle Shuffle.

Chris Kenner has an amazing routine called "Paint by Numbers" found in his book "Totally Out of Control". It requires the use of a faro shuffle also. 4 Royal Flushes are "painted" onto the close-up mat in a most impressive manner.

I think it doesn't matter if you haven't found a use for a sleight that you have learnt. It all adds to your library of sleights and it's just fun to do. You should learn all the sleights you can possibly learn, even if they seem to be the most useless sleights ever. Who knows? Maybe in the near future when you are creating effects, you may find a use for that "useless" sleight to make the most amazing effect!

Have fun!

P.S. Here is an impressive performance of the Easy Ace Estimation, performed by the brilliant Jordan Lapping!

Thanks for the direction, guess I have some reading to do. And I agree with you stevebo. I have learned a couple of slights and even some flourishes that I thought were totaly useless that I have ebeen able to throw into tricks to spice them up. I guess its always good to keep expanding the repertoire.

Tamariz's Mnemonica stack uses the faro as well.

Dear Mr. Toucan,

Thank you for your kind words about EASY ACE ESTIMATION. So you know, it's in my book NOCTURNAL CREATIONS.

I use the Faro Shuffle a lot...see EXPLORATIONS, too.

Best, Paul Gordon

Hi,

Sorry to up this quite old post, but I just come back on "Dear Mr Fantasy" to try understand an incredible trick mamed "Dawn Patrol".
This trick in which you need to Faro, is simply wonderful.

See the performance here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoB3AdR9YN4

MJLFR wrote:Hi,

Sorry to up this quite old post, but I just come back on "Dear Mr Fantasy" to try understand an incredible trick mamed "Dawn Patrol".
This trick in which you need to Faro, is simply wonderful.

See the performance here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoB3AdR9YN4

I watched the video, and I have to say that if it really is done using a perfect faro to interlace the selection between the two face up cards then it is ridiculous. You can do an effect that will play exactly the same to a spectator, and even look 99% exactly the same to a fellow magician, using a very simple technique.

I'm not even sure this guy didn't do the simple version. The only thing confusing me is the separation of the two packets with the selection and the sandwich cards. Even so, I could duplicate move for move what you see in that video using a shorted dupe and a pencil dot. But why even go to those lengths? A standard sandwich effect would play just as strong to a layperson and there's no need for a "perfect" faro.