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Hello all!

I want to memorize a stack, but I don't want to spend time memorizing the wrong one. For example, the Aronson stack contains perfect hands for poker etc, but I don't think it would suit my style to produce perfect hands for card games, so that particular stack may not be the best for me.

Can anyone tell me the general features of other stacks? I'm happy to buy a book or whatever to get the actual stack order.

What do you want to use a stack for? Some are used, as you note, to create specific hands. Others are more general. Si Stebbins is a good starter, which is easy to learn/calculate and will let you perform some pretty amazing mentalism effects (particularly when mixed with a certain gaff decks...).

Mentalism (or mental magic) in general. I'm not really sure because I don't know what the possibilities are.

Certainly I want to be able to cut to a named card, which should be easy with a stacked deck containing several short cards.

And I'd be able to do that with ANY stacked deck.

But perhaps there are some specific effects that I just would never have thought of... hence this post.

The SS one sounds good, if as you say it's easy and is good for mentalism. Any other suggestions, anyone?

The book Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz is an veritable encyclopedia of effects to do with a stacked deck - including tricks specific to the stack taught in the book. Seriously, it's about 400 pages of the stuff.

Alternatively, get Harry Lorayne's how to Develop a Super Power Memory, and learn to memorise a shuffled deck in a few minutes.

Serendipity wrote:The book Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz is an veritable encyclopedia of effects to do with a stacked deck - including tricks specific to the stack taught in the book. Seriously, it's about 400 pages of the stuff.

Alternatively, get Harry Lorayne's how to Develop a Super Power Memory, and learn to memorise a shuffled deck in a few minutes.

Thanks for this! Is there anything specific about the Tamariz stack that makes the stack itself a good choose? For example is it designed for mentalism or poker or something else?

There's loads of info here: http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic3646

Replicant wrote:There's loads of info here: http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic3646

Don't you mean there's stacks of info ?

Coat. Mandrake. Door.

The Devil's Tailor wrote:Can anyone tell me the general features of other stacks?

From my point of view the implemented "features" of the farmost stacks are overrated.
When you use a complete memorized deck you are able to "stack it" in different ways (apposite to a special effect) if necessary right under their noses.
There are handlings that alow you do it while you purport you are mixing the deck.

So I guess the first question you have to answer is whether you want to use a genuin memorized deck or you prefer a card system.

Advantage of the first one: You don't have to calculate any positions during a performance.
Disadvantage (compared to a card system): You have to learn a little more.

Advantage of card systems: Less time consuming in learning.
Disadvantage: Most of the systems allow to calculate a card before or a card after the peeked one; but they don't allow to identify the number of a specific card.

Following this link you will find a list of systems and memorized decks milstones.

Some remarks on systems vs. memorized decks are made here.


My advice would be first to clarify whether you like to learn a memorized deck or a system.
Other questions are of secondary importance.

Cheers
Th.

By the way:
This linkmay help after a decision.

Darwin Ortiz's advice is stop worrying. He, and several others, just shuffled a deck and memorized it.

Even Mnemonica, which has brilliant features built in, doesn't have particularly good effects. The real effects you'll use are ones from other souces etc...

However,Mnemonica is accessible from new deck order, which is why I went for it!

Hi Daren. I agree with Ted, the Si Stebbins is the easiest of all stacks (you can start using it as soon as you read the method) and if used subtly can be used for some pretty amazing stuff. I have used this and the eight kings method for almost twenty years. I have never bothered with any others because everything i need from a stack is in these two methods. As with most things in magic it is down to personal choice, and it depends what you want to use the stack for. Some of the more modern methods which have been mentioned (the two i use are very old) have the advantage of not looking like a set up at all, even under close scrutiny. This might be preffered by some. With the Si Stebbins and eight kings method there is something which could be noticed, however there are ways round this. I also dont stack the full deck, but prefer the half deck method. Anyway each method has its own pro's and cons and its really just down to your personal preferences. jim

Thanks for so many replies! I've been reading the various links people have been posting, but I'm getting sort of muddled. There are so many choose from! I'm not just being lazy. It's sort of confusing.

Firstly, I definitely want to memorize a deck. I'm heavily into mnemonics. And I'm hopeless with maths!

Secondly, ideally I'd like a stack that is easy to get into from a new deck, while whistling the theme tune to Dad's Army. Lenoir commented that "Mnemonica is accessible from new deck order", so clearly that one could work for me I guess.

Thirdly, in general I'm not too bothered about being able to produce perfect Poker hands; and in general I'm interested in card tricks that can be presented as mentalism.

So, if anyone can clarify which is the most suitable stack, that'd be great.

(I can't quite put my finger on why, but at present I'm not really into the idea of being able to memorise a genuinely shuffled deck quickly. Maybe at a later date! I guess because I just want to be able to perform very quick effects at present.)

I would say the best stack to start with is Si Stebbins because it is so easy to learn however it does look stacked. The Osterlind requires more thought but if you intend to show the deck or let the spectator handle it, this stack looks completely random. These however are stacks where a quick formula tells you what the next card is and not memorized decks where you learn the position of all 52 cards. I am currently learning the Joyal Stack which seems really good. If you have a copy of the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Jean Hugard that has the Nikola system in it.

The Devil's Tailor wrote:Lenoir commented that "Mnemonica is accessible from new deck order", so clearly that one could work for me I guess.

Are you skilled enough for some perfect and reliable faros or antifaros?
Cause this is the presupposition for building up the Tamariz Stack from NDO (or vice versa - what I prefer).

Otherwise this would be a nice theroretical advantage; not more not less.

Cheers
Th.

No, I can't really do a Faro thingy. I can do some excellent false shuffles but that's about it.

So, if you need to do anything fancy to get into the stack, then that does help.

Are there any that you can get into from a new deck without any very difficult techniques liks Faros? If not then I should strike that from the list and just look for a stack with other advantages.

I certainly don't want one that looks stacked, BTW.