talkmagic.co.uk

Hey gang,

Wanted to learn the Mexican Turnover today but was without any books so came up with my own method that I believe is probably very close to whatever the standard method is.

Only practiced for an hour so I won't keep the video up long...

Just thought I would ask anyone with experience of the move to just give me any tips to make it look more natural, more deceptive etc.

Apologies also for the low quality etc...filming it in bed with a desk lamp and laptop webcam...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M_h_7m2NxE

Cheers!

Well you're better at it than me, but that looks more like a move I've always known as a Mexican lift (That's how it's referred to in Magic & Showmanship), not a Mexican turnover.

In my mind, the Mexican turnover (Which I learned from Doc Eason's Bar Magic volume 3) is where both cards are turned together and the upper one is left behind after the turn, making people think it's the one that was on the top to begin with that has been left behind.

Usually done with a DF'er and a duplicate of the unseen face. For example, if you had a card which was a 5 of hearts one side and an Ace of Spades the other, and one which was just a 5 of hearts, you would have the AS showing, slip the face up 5H under it, turn both over, revealing the 5H side of the DF and the back of the actual 5H, then push the face down 5H forwards, leaving it there as you take away the DF with the 5H showing.

What this looks like is you bring the 5H to the AS, turn over the AS and take the 5H away. It has a discrepancy in that if you did it with normal cards you'd expect both to be face down after the turn but it's surprisingly deceptive.

Done with normal cards it can be used to swap two face up cards whilst turning both face down, though it's not as deceptive when done that way I find. Maybe I just don't sell it very well.

Then again, looking on youtube, lots of people are calling what I know as the lift the turnover... Perhaps the terms have conflated over the years.

But as I said, I wish I could do a Mexican lift that well. I find when I do a Mexican lift the card going under pushes the top card away across the table and I can't get a good lift, so I have to put one finger on the table to act as a stop and then do the lift over the finger, which doesn't look as clean as your move.

Given that it's a move I use a lot, I would add that the turnover you do is very fast and in one fluid movement, and for a move like this I'm not sure that's a good thing. Perhaps it's just the fact that I use one finger as an end stop sort of forces this action, but I find myself leaving a slight pause between pushing the card under the one to be switched and doing the actual move, as if to show the audience what I'm doing with it. If you do it too quickly (particularly in the second one you do) you never see how the cards come together and whilst someone who does card magic or plays a lot of poker would recognise it as one card turning another, it might not be immediately obvious to a lay audience what you're doing. It may come across as a "tricky move".

Also as a subtlety, when I do a Mexican Turnover (or Lift) I usually say something along the lines of "So you know I'm not doing anything shifty, I won't even hold the card as I turn it." I'd like to say I won't even touch it, but since I have to use one finger to complete the turn, I can't say that yet.

But yeah, looks good.

-Stacy

Cant be much help mate but i've seen a Gazzo dvd and he taught it to use on 3 card monte.

That looks like a Turnover to me. References: Expert Card Technique, Amateur Magician's Handbook, What's New in Magic (Gibson).

Barry

I agree with Barry. Looks like a (very smooth) turnover to me. I would not be able to spot that without your warning.

If you have the Beyond ESP cards you'll find the move described there, also.

T.

So wait, if what I thought was a Mexican lift is called a mexican turnover... what is the move I described above that I've been calling a Mexican turnover?

-Stacy

The video is not the Mexican Turnover...cannot explain here without exposure...

Ah, perhaps I was right then. Is that in fact a mexican lift, Dr Todd?

-Stacy

The4thCircle wrote:Ah, perhaps I was right then. Is that in fact a mexican lift, Dr Todd?

-Stacy

The video in the original post is just a turnover. The Mexican Turnover is more deceptive and useful for mentalism as well

Cheers

Todd

Aaaaand you're not going to tell us any more about it, are you?

-Stacy

PM's are your friend in instances such as this

Are you still on holiday, Stacy?