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OK, this fell on my door mat this morning. Forgive me for not using the template, but I have just written the same review on another forum, and like their template a little bit better - besides, I can't be asked to rearrange it.

Name: Weapons of the Card Shark - Underground Cheating Techniques Exposed

Author: Jeff Wessmiller

Price: £26.99 from Alkazam

Publisher: Expert Magic Pictures

Date: 4 June 2005

Length: 93 minutes

Difficulty: 3-8

Out of 10: 8.5

Contents
Learn how to take a clean fully shuffled deck, and deal yourself the winning hand. No marks, No trick decks. Deck is handed to you completely random. No joke!

Ever wonder how cheats really do their thing? Think it’s about marked cards or gimmicks? Think again. This video is the first of it’s kind to truly expose underground cheating techniques in action today. Several of the moves on this video have NEVER been seen before anywhere! Not to mention this video is full of brand new material invented by Jeff Wessmiller himself.


Includes live game footage of the cheat in action


THE MOVES:


over 90 minutes all on one DVD!


False Shuffles: Blind Overhand Shuffle, Controlling Top Card, Controlling Bottom Card, Blind Over-Under Shuffle, Over-Under Combo, Top Card Riffle Control, Top Stock Short Shuffle, Push-Through Shuffle, Zarrow Shuffle, Spider Shuffle.


False Cuts: Scrape Cut, False Strip,Slip Cut, Jigsaw Cut, Up-the-ladder.


Stacking: Lay Stack, Overhand Stack, J.W. Stack,Riffle Stacking, Cold Stacking, Double Duke.


Hopping the Deck: Cellar Keep, Classic Pass Tap Pass, Thumb-lick Pass, Wess Pass, Table Pass 1, Table Pass 2.


Glimpses: Bubble Peek,Heel Glimpse, Gamblers Glimpse, Shiner Glimpse.


False Dealing: Bottom Deal, Stud Bottom Deal,Flop Bottom Deal, Cigar Bottom Deal, Second Deal, Push Off Second Deal.


Mucking: Chopping Cards Out, Top Palm Chopping, Gamblers Palm Chopping, Clip Palm Chopping, Two Handed Muck, One Handed Muck, Peel Muck, Palm In, Palm Out Muck.


Deck Switches: Cold Deck Switch, Sting Cold Deck Switch, Bold and Cold Deck Switch.


Comments
OK, this is a very interesting and enjoyable dvd. Jeff Wessmiller states that the techniques in here should NOT be used to seriously cheat at cards for money. Doubtless a lot of people will be this with the idea of trying to swindle other players.
As a magician, some of the techniques are more useful than others, and the difficulty varies from fairly easy to quite difficult. The false shuffles and cuts will be known at least in part to many card magicians (I picked up a few new ones here). One part that interested me was stacking - setting up the deck so you will receive one or more cards - this is useful for doing poker demonstration magic impromptu.

Another useful section is that of mucking - switching in or out a few cards - this was one of the main reasons why I was interested in acquiring this dvd, as there are some excellent packet tricks which use gimmicked cards, and this is an excellent way to clean up.

The section at the end where Jeff shows a clip of him cheating in a 'Real Life Poker game' was interesting, although I am not convinced he would get away with some of the techniques in real life.

Overall, I am going to give this an 8.5/10 - the dvd is very well put together and contains a wealth of material - much of which is useful for magicians. I must admit that some of the techniques he demonstrated were - to me reasonably trained I - visible (odd flash etc.) I realise that the laymen will probably miss these, but compared to a true master of sleight of hand such as Lennart Green, I didn't feel his technique was perfect at times. Jeff also has a slightly deadpan presentation technique, something I have accused Jerry Griffin of in the past - makes it a little bit boring to listen too.

So, good but not great - a worthwhile investment for Card Magi though.
Gopes