Reverse Interlude by Charlie Miller

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 1039 et seq.

Personal Comment: Cute! practical! And those I showed it to told me that it is pretty strong. More strong than one would think if told just the description of the trick.

Difficulty 1/5

Triumph by Dai Vernon

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 654 et seq.

Personal Comment: This is not the original handling. For the original handling please refer to the book "Stars of Magic" (Page 23 et seq.) This uses the "Zarrow". Roberto Giobbi claims no involvement in this, so the "other" participant in the handling remains unknown. It is a classic. Rightfully so. But it is not easy. I suck at doing the move involved. And I am honestly practicing the Zarrow for a few year now. My hands simply refuse to do the proper work. Anyway, what I like about the version above is the lack of any "proof". The situation is so clear that this doesn't need any proof.

Difficulty 5/5

A Sure Bet by Roberto Giobbi

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 565 et seq.

Personal Comment: Larry Jennings also came up with a version. But the above version was created by Roberto Giobbi "independently" which means Larry Jennings had nothing to do with it. Technically speaking there is no need to even mention Larry Jennings. But some credit crazy magicians think otherwise. So after wasting all those words... the trick is gold, pure gold. The sucker element gets the audience if they really think you messed up. That of course requires acting. Also it requires real good audience management as they must not speak up telling you that you are wrong. So if you have kids in your audience this might not be the effect of choice. But if you sure you can pull this off, the reactions are crazy. This is no longer about the cards. This trick glorifies the magicians ability to fool the hell out of you. To lead you down the path that you think is safe, yet the magician has been there already.
There is also a risk involved in doing this trick. If the audience doesn't like you, they will also shut up and not tell you that you got the wrong card. Having the right card in the end however will also carry a very bad subtext. "Look at me, I'm smarter than you!" That has to be avoided at all cost.
So the trick requires audience management, acting and likability on the performers part. So this might not be for everyone. But for those few... this is gold.

Difficulty 2/5

Remember and Forget by Christoph Borer

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 546 et seq.

Personal Comment: Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser came up with this excellent plot. The technical solution in this version could not be more simple and clever. I love it. But I see a problem with it. This could not be performed anywhere. It needs proper framing. So this is perfect for a Salon type piece. Very much in the same way Hofzinser did. It required the spectator to remember two cards. And as easy as this sound I do recall many situations where my audience couldn't remember one card. Distraction is the key word here. If there are distractions like alcohol, loud noise, peer pressure this trick is not recommended. But otherwise go for it. The method allows for more than two people to participate. Always a good thing.

Difficulty 2/5

The Invisible Card by Dirk Ferguson and Roberto Giobbi

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 523 et seq.

Personal Comment: Creator of the base of this trick is magician Dirk Ferguson who called it Wow! Confusing? I added this fairly known trick to show how weird proper crediting can go. Dirk Ferguson published this under his pen name Richard Bruce in the 1951 issue of Hugard's Magic Monthly (Vol. IX, No. 4, page 835 et seq.) It was an instant hit. For some reason it got also known as the "Biddle Trick" mostly because of some bad marketing by one of those magic companies that sound close to "illusionist". "Wow" however was the correct title. Nowadays "Wow" is often associated with a plastic gimmick. The title that Roberto Giobbi chose is taken as well. Gerald Deutsch's "Invisible Card" comes to mind. Whatever. The world of magic crediting is a difficult one. The trick itself however is a great one. Easy to do, strong effect.

Difficulty 1/5

The Strasbourg Waltz by Richard Vollmer

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 613 et seq.

Personal Comment: Nice version of Twisting the Aces I think. Not much illogical stuff going on. And I've been through many, many version. The last effect seems a bit off, but hits people on a weird emotional level. I tried it and I get good reactions. Compared to the almost non existing setup this is great. However is you don't like the end you can do the following. Lose the two aces in the middle of the deck instead of placing them on the table. The other two go to the top. Do the magic stuff and reveal the other two aces on top. Deal them on the table and do a turnover pass as you show the other aces in the center. If you decide on that handling you don't even have any setup at all.

Difficulty 2/5

The Haunted Card by Lynn Searles

Richard's Almanac by Richard Kaufman
The Collected Almanac (Vol.3 Summer Edition)
Page 301 et seq.

Personal Comment: It's just a method to reveal a card. And I truly believe the story, that this is basically a one handed top palm gone wrong. It happened to me. So here is a way to use that accident as an effect! Nice.

Difficulty: 2/5

This is a Nice Souvenir by Jim Abrahams

The Lecture That Has Never Happened by Jim Abrahams
Page to be added

Personal Comment: There is a page in the notes, which is basically just a brain dump on card effects and plots. This is one of them. I took the liberty and turned it into reality. I like it, simply because it really leaves the audience with a nice magical souvenir. The torn of corner, aside from bringing the effect full circle, has the nice psychological effect of causing time misdirection, delaying the perceived moment of any possible switch, making it pretty hard to back track for a lay person. But I realized this will not work in a beginners hand. Simply because the audience will think of trick cards, making the effect pointless. However, if you got the experience and the charisma to convey the fact to the audience that you don't need pathetic trick cards to do your magic, then this is a wonderful piece of magic. The little outline of the effect that was offered in the notes said, that a spectator needs to sign the back. I agree. I had none while filming this, ergo I did it.

Difficulty: 2/5

Simplicity by Arthur H. Buckley

Card Control by Arthur H. Buckley
Page 161 et seq.

Personal Comment: Experiment No. 11 in the list of 40 card tricks. You can hardly go more basic than this. It has spawned many, many horrible version and some really great ones. Read it, learn it and understand what makes this routine so great and why simplicity is sometimes best.

Difficulty: 1/5

The Lost Aces by Arthur H. Buckley

Card Control by Arthur H. Buckley
Page 155 et seq.

Personal Comment: As I said in the video... this is the grandmother of pretty much all ace productions. And it is a good one in a way. What Arthur H. Buckley has offered is nothing but the bare bones of a routine, but I think that is the beauty of it. It basically forces you to create a presentational frame. Sure there are much better versions out there. And rightfully so. If nothing had happened since this was published it would be a poor testament to the creative output of magicians.

Difficulty: 3/5

Slappy by Jim Abrahams

The Lecture That Has Never Happened by Jim Abrahams
Page to be added

Personal Comment: When I read this I was all like "What? That's not going to work!" And in a way I am right and in another way I am all wrong. But then I saw something similar done by Dani DaOrtiz I at least had to give it a try. Hello.... it works. Here is how. People are not really fooled, but they sure as hell are surprised and entertained. I forgot to add a phase in the video. It is the exact opposite. Basically a rub-a-dub vanish in the spectators hand. Try it, you will see how well this plays.

Difficulty: 2/5

360 Color Change by Jim Abrahams

The Lecture That Has Never Happened by Jim Abrahams
Page to be added

Personal Comment: This is not new in any specific way, but it is a color change that can be done surrounded. Also the last toss/twirl "thingy" is nice to prove that there is only one card. Does it look like all the fancy versions? No... but it's practical! In the video I start doing the Marlo Miracle Change near the end. But I wanted to just showcase the one change. But doing the Miracle Change right afterwards is nice.

Difficulty: 4/5

The Joker is a Snitch by Jim Abrahams

The Lecture That Has Never Happened by Jim Abrahams
Page to be added

Personal Comment: Great opener. Jim suggest not revealing that the card has turned back into the joker. But instead leaving it face down on the table and then going through the deck taking out the selection to have someone sign it. You can be sure they will take a look under the face down card. Hilarious I think!

Difficulty: 1/5

Rise and Switch by Bill Simon and Roberto Giobbi

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 590 et seq.

Personal Comment: Could be included in almost any existing ACR. The method is solid and the "indicator" card really help to make it easy to remember what is going on. I would file this under "Nice, but not my cup of tea" as again there is the issue with the table space, limiting it's real world use drastically. I can imagine, letting others hold the indicator cards and placing the selection on top of those. That would transform the bit into a "in the hands" item making this much more attractive. In face now thinking about it, it probably is the best approach. Just place the indicator card into the spectators hand. Face up. Then place the selection on that card Face down. Follow quickly with half the pack, then let them remove the indicator card from the bottom of the pack to be placed on top of the pack, telling them that the selection will now follow. During the second phase you make the two spectators switch the indicator cards. I assume you can even prompt them to do so. So it seems to be their idea, making this much stronger.

Difficulty 1/5

Three-way Excursion by Roberto Giobbi

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 859 et seq.
Page 841 et seq. in the German Edition ("Transposition Excelsior")

Personal Comment: Really nice and easy, but you need table space. Lot's of table space. So this is not for the closeup kind of guy who is used to doing card magic amongst wineglasses with very little space. But if you have the liberty of space, there is no reason not to do it. It is based on Irv Weiner's "Triple Transposition", a credit that is not in the German edition for some reason.

Difficulty 2/5

The Palindrome Cards by Roberto Giobbi

Card College 3 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 585 et seq.
Page 622 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: Meh... is that a good card plot? I personally like the straight order in the court plot more. You know, mixing them and then they are in order. The sudden reverse of the order would be a nice finish for the standard routine.

Difficulty 3/5

Flash Transposition by José Carroll

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 855 et seq.
Page 838 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: I changed the handling in the video. Pretty much all of it. But the basic effect and the structure remains the same. I did it, because none of the suggested methods are optimal for this in my humble opinion. Check out the original handling see if you agree or disagree with me. But a triple buckle is not as reliable as getting a break under the top card. That being said, I must say that the structure is good and practical. It's quick and that's a good thing most of the time.

Difficulty 2/5

Cheops's Dunbury Sandwich by Fernando Cheops

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 953 et seq.
Page 926 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: Roberto Giobbi claims that this is a considerable improvement on the effect "Dunbury Sandwich" by Dave Solomon and Robert Walker. I kind of agree. The original had the advantage of the final change happening disconnected from the deck. But this on has such a strong "sucker part" that it is simply gold in a good entertainer's hand. The original handling is overly complicated, this is much more easy. This effect is a crowd pleaser and the setup is minimal. I can highly recommend it.

Difficulty 2/5

The Frank Shields Display by Frank Shields

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 1020 et seq.
Page 1014 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: It's a really easy flourish if you have long fingers. If you don't (like me) it's tricky. But you can still get the cards to spread off the other cards if you help the packets a little bit, by flicking them against each other to make the release possible. Aside from that technical issue it really is a nice little way to display four cards. Or just two.

Difficulty 2/5

Ultra-ambitious by Roberto Giobbi

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 1005 et seq.
Page 948 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: I have a hard time believing that I have not chosen more Ambitious Card sequences for the Daily Card Trick. But this is the first one. Personally too much for my taste. But my opinion shouldn't count, as I threw my ambitious card out of my working repertoire a long time ago. It is pretty complex compared to the "single phase modular thinking" usually associated with the Ambitious Card. But if you are the type of performer that sticks to his handling and doesn't improvise a lot this might be for you.

Difficulty 4/5

Card Collection by Roberto Giobbi and Jim Surprise

Card College 4 by Roberto Giobbi
Page 1002 et seq.
Page 945 et seq. in the German Edition

Personal Comment: This is the version I've been using in a regular performance. It is straight to the point, practical and fairly easy. I changed the whole selection part of the routine. In the book it tells you to take out the selections one by one from the middle, spinning it out of the deck. Not only do I have trouble doing that, I also think that in terms of structure this kills my personal pacing. I want to show all the selections at the same time. So I added the switch which works fine in the routine and is nicely covered in the action of picking up the kings. This works much better for me and my somewhat chaotic nature as I perform. Almost forgot. I changed the ending too. In the book version the four aces (not kings) are placed on the deck and vanish instantly only to reappear in the middle of the deck having caught the selection. I like the effect that the selections rise to the top, getting trapped by the kings. Again just me.

Difficulty 3/5

What's Eating You? by Justin Higham

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 11, Number 2 February 1988
Page 1463 et seq.

Personal Comment: Different ending than the usual. And I can see it fitting in certain places. The methods are nice, and while this routines seems pretty forgettable, it actually is a good one. For some weird reason I miscalled the QS as the QC near the end of the video. My bad. Sorry.

Difficulty 3/5

Places Aces! by Jim Molinari

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 11, Number 2 February 1988
Page 1461 et seq.

Personal Comment: Just a string of methods, put placed well together I think. I worked from the original instruction, but personally I would substitute the switch for a different one. But that's just me. Otherwise I think this is fine.

Difficulty 2/5

Card on Rope

Personal Comment: I always thought this ungimmicked version of the Card on Rope effect was in Tarbell. Turns out it is not. So do you know the source? Because I think this is a pretty good effect. Btw, this version actually allows for a signed card to be caught by the rope. That would of course require a palm but you got plenty of time to do the actual switch out as the spectator is shuffling the deck. This effect plays strong with regular audiences. And you don't even need a table. The rope could be in the top hat in the beginning, then you take out the rope, display it, toss the rope with the special side over your shoulder and show the top hat. Then reverse the action and put the rope back into the top hat. And then you can have you card picked.

Unlike the gimmicked versions I like the fact that the top hat can be shown empty. All looks pretty clean,

Three Fo(u)r One by Richard Vollmer

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 11, Number 1 January 1988
Page 1450 et seq.

Personal Comment: Actually pretty convincing if you put in the right amount of work (unlike me who just took 5 minutes)But personally instead of going for a four of a kind, I would go for jokers. You would need three jokers but the effect would look much cooler that way. So if you have three jokers in the deck (I looking at you Fournier) go for it.

Difficulty 2/5

Fat City by John Bannon

Smoke and Mirrors by Simon Aronson
Page 35 et seq.

Personal Comment: I love Sandwich effects. Somehow this seems like a fulfilling climax to almost any "sandwichy" routine. And it is fairly easy. But it takes guts to do it. Serious guts! I can see it not being performed because some will think that this never works in a real performance. I tried... it does. It's good. I love it.

Difficulty 3/5

Discrepancy Triumph by Doug Edwards

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 16, Number 6 June 1993
Page 2226 et seq.

Personal Comment: It's odd that there even exists such a version. I'm not saying that discrepancies are not something that could be dealt with, but the whole point of the routine is to have a Triumph without any preparation. And there are plenty of versions out there which accomplish that exact thing without discrepancies. Alright, those might not be as easy... and I think I just answered my own thoughts on this... yes it's an easy routine.

Difficulty 2/5

That's Why! by Jim Abrahms

The Lecture That Has Never Happened by Jim Abrahams
Page 14 explained in the footnotes!

Personal Comment: Nice little quickie to set the tone for the effect "The Double Card Monster" also by Jim Abrahams. The odd thing while experimenting with this that you can do this without the required "extra" if you just lap.

Difficulty: 1/5

Pseudo Second Demo by Doug Edwards

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 16, Number 10 October 1993
Page 2271 et seq.

Personal Comment: I'm not a fan of mixing gambling plots into magic shows. So I can only judge this as a standalone piece, that is disconnected from magic and just seen in the context of a false gambling demonstration. And as such it really is not that bad. And the fact that it is relatively easy makes the whole thing even more approachable.

Difficulty 3/5

Jinx Mate by Gerald Deutsch

Apocalypse by Harry Lorayne
Volume 16, Number 6 June 1993
Page 2224 et seq.

Personal Comment: Easy, love it. In fact it fits perfectly into one of my own tricks. Can anyone tell me what card plot "the finding of a mate" is?

Difficulty 2/5