The effect is straightforward. You mix up a load of jokers from a variety of different casinos. The spectator chooses one – and it is found to match the ‘lucky poker chip’ you have already given the spectator. Then the chip visibly transforms into a chip of much higher value. In a brilliant final phase, the spectator makes all the choices to deal out the cards into two hands. Amazingly the cards dealt to you have transformed into a straight flush in spades!

What’s in the Casino Con box?

You get a DVD, and all the necessary playing cards and poker chips. The cards are of a nice quality though some of the printing on the back is a little ‘fuzzy.’ The chips are well weighted which always adds conviction. You also receive a little plastic wallet to hold the cards and to help you do part of the trick more easily!

The DVD includes several different performances by different performers which gives you a great idea of how strong the effect is.

The explanation is at a good pace and covers all the detail you need. In fact that sentence should really read ‘explanations’ since the teaching has been filmed in two different locations and both are included! The first phase is all but self-working – incredibly easy to do.

If you want to do the ‘chip change’ you will have to execute a little sleight of hand. One method is briefly taught – and a couple of different methods can be seen in the performance section. If you need some more help here any basic coin resource will do (and if you don’t already own it – buy yourself a copy of Bobo – it should be in your library!). I really like this as an extra phase – but you could miss this out if you wanted to. However it does provide another moment of misdirection which is helpful to get you into the final phase.

There are a number of different ways to perform the final phase. They are all easy to do – though some will require you to remember slightly more procedure. This is a really surprising climax to the whole thing. One of the really clever things is the way the methods ‘cancel each other out’ – which is always a great way to fry your spectators’ minds!

There’s no con – it’s a great effect!

I think you get a whole lot of magic for not a lot of effort – which also means you can focus on your presentation. The casino theme is engaging for most audiences and sells itself. It doesn’t take up much space in your pocket and is pretty much instantly re-set. This is a real winner!

The Casino Con is available from the Merchant of Magic for £26.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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The post The Casino Con – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

What’s in the (Cold) Case?

You get a nicely made gimmick which you can customise for another deck (if you’re not using Red Bicycle cards). The gimmick is made from steel and should last a lifetime – and comes ready made so you are good to go straight away. It is nicely packaged and includes a link to video instructions which you can watch online or download. And what instructions – this is 3 hours and 40 mins of instruction and discussion.

One Trick Pony?

Greg teaches at least 8 variant switches for different contexts, and then has a whole extra section on Daniel Madison’s ‘Fractured’ switch which is very powerful. You’ll need to try them all and play with them to see which fits you and your rhythm and what fits the particular trick/application you have in mind. But there are no shortage of options.

Greg is a great teacher and it seems the online format encourages extra detail not less. He talks about the psychology and subtlety of the whole thing. There’s so much to learn here which has application in all your magic – not just in deck switching. I hadn’t really considered it as anything other than a close up utility – but of course it could be really useful in stage work too.

The teaching covers how to get the gimmick in to play, how to make the switch and how to ditch it again. And then, a cornucopia of effects which take advantage of this technique. Here’s a few comments on each of the ten effects.

Let’s fake a deal – perhaps the most obvious use of the switch – a spectator shuffles the deck and then they deal various hands of playing cards and you always win.

Control freak – the spectator shuffles the deck and you repeatedly find the joker, then reveal that the whole deck is separated into ordered suits. It requires a ‘Truffle Shuffle’ to add conviction to the second stage – but this isn’t taught here.

Clear the deck – a cod explanation for how you find a card – as the whole deck turns to see-through cards (Joshua Jay’s Phantom Deck) – apart from the one you’re locating. You will obviously need the Phantom Deck to perform this.

Deep Phreeze – after a very brief ‘Ambitious Card’ routine the spectator is unable to insert the card into the deck which has become solid (a la Paul Harris’ classic Solid Deception). In a flash it turns back again.

Lying your Ace off – you locate the aces (or a royal flush) as the deck vanishes. This is a really nice and surprising routine – the ‘switch’ is well covered – and isn’t really a switch as only one deck is in play. Instead the gimmick helps you ‘vanish’ the deck.

Justin Case – the spectator’s card jumps on top of the card box unexpectedly. When you repeat the effect, the whole deck vanishes and returns to the card box, leaving only the selection in your hands. You will need to be able to steal and palm a card for this one, but it is worth learning if you can’t already because it is a lovely flowing routine.

Leech off Leach – the spectator’s signed card is fairly replaced into the card box only to be found in another different coloured deck of cards. You’ll need to do a tiny extra bit of craft work to complete this one. This is an effective and easy routine. And one of the extra things I like here is a subtle little force – which is sort of like a face up cross cut force but without crossing the cut. This could have applications in other areas too.

The Dean of Switches – as you purport to teach the spectator about deck switches a deck repeatedly changes in front of the spectator’s eyes from mixed to unshuffled – and finally to a blank deck. A nice combination of the gimmick with the Unshuffled effect (available separately).

52 Shades of Greg – another routine built on the premise of teaching about deck switches. The deck changes colour a couple of times in an amusing way and then finally changes to a rainbow deck. Again, you’ll need a couple of extra special decks to make this work.

10 Card Poker Deal – this is the classic routine – but it now looks so much fairer because the spectator shuffles the deck and deals the cards you’re going to use. If you’ve seen this routine before you’ll know how strong it is. There are many variations on this routine – but this has a good number of phases and the switch is done in a very clever way – a great routine.

After all 10 routines there’s still another half an hour of material with extra tips and ideas. With all this material you’re unlikely to get through it all in one go. If you’re watching online, there are hyperlinks to jump to different sections. If you’ve downloaded the file, then you can also download a useful ‘timestamp’ pdf which tells you all the timings of the different sections so you can navigate it by hand.

What do we think?

Cold Case is a great utility device which opens up a whole load of possibilities which, as they say, is limited only by your imagination. You can switch in a stacked deck, switch in or out a gaff deck, use it to vanish or add cards etc. etc.

The teaching is great. The style is fun – I particularly enjoy his interaction with the cameraman and with his ‘assistant.’ Also some of the ‘outtakes’ which are included are hilarious. You can even learn from some of the ‘mistakes’.

The gimmick is well made and should last a long time. The switch itself isn’t too difficult – though you will need to practise a bit to get everything really natural. About the only negative I can think of is that a number of the routines taught require other dealer items to perform them. This is great for opening your mind to other possibilities, but is slightly frustrating if you don’t have the necessary.

But with that very small proviso, I think Cold Case is an excellent release and well worth adding to your collection. Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £32.39 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Greg Wilson – Cold Case – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

What is it?

Essentially Revolution is a gimmick which enables you to spin a deck of cards on your finger. That’s the long and short of it. You’re supplied with the simple gimmick, attractively packaged (I think the quality of magic packaging has improved over the years – am I alone here?!) and also some specially printed cards for some of the effects taught later. As is the trend, you are also given a location and password to watch/download the teaching.

How’s the teaching?

Greg is a superb and entertaining teacher. His tongue is firmly in his cheek at various points during the explanation which makes it great fun to watch – he’s a nutter and I love his silliness. That being said, the explanation ran to about an hour and half, and if we’d lost some of the chuckles I might have saved some time… If you’re a diehard fan you’ll enjoy the outtakes section at the end.

As well as answering just about any question you could possibly have about the thing, there’s an interesting segment where you watch someone trying the thing out for the first time and Greg comments and corrects what he’s doing. That’s a great way to learn – especially for something like this which is a little bit ‘knacky’. Greg, of course makes it look super easy, but you won’t be doing this straight away. It will take a fair bit of practise to get a consistent/reliable spin – though probably much less effort than it looks like it should!

Other comments?

The ‘new’ bicycle tuck cases don’t have the back design printed on them – which makes one aspect of this slightly more difficult than it would have been before. Can’t really say more without exposure. Greg describes ways in which you could use this as an opener, a trick in the middle or a flourish as you finish. There are also thoughts on hiding the gimmick (which is largely hidden in plain sight anyway) etc. If anything, for me it felt like slightly more information than was needed on a relatively simple gimmick and move. Maybe I’m old and jaded but 50 ish minutes on just the move felt like overkill.

The routines

There was a nice idea for a hypnotism based routine – a great premise, but it was only really briefly taught – so if you don’t know the couple of moves needed you might need some more help.

Spin Cycle – utilising one of the specially printed gaff cards – whilst you spin the deck a spectator makes some choices to define a card. When you locate the card in the deck it is seen to be the only one with a ‘spun’ back design. And then it magically reverts. There are also a couple of special cards where the faces have been ‘spun’ which allows a few other variations.
Deshuffled – Revolution makes a great addition to the ‘Unshuffled’ routine (available separately) – so that a mixed up deck is spun on your finger and then it reverts to new deck order. Lovely.
Invisible Revolution – Very clever routine with a ‘well known gaff deck’ which adds an extra triumphant feel (let the reader understand) to the Invisible deck. Lovely sneaky idea.

Vive la revolution?

All in all this is a simple concept and a nice flourish which, if you’re prepared to put in the practise, would be a good addition to any card set. It gives the impression of more skill than is actually involved and could be a really good way of breaking the ice at the beginning of a set, or going out with a flourish at the end. And the Invisible Revolution idea would work as a very strong effect even without the Revolution bit!

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £26.99 at the time of writing.

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Greg Wilson – Revolution – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

We’re primarily a card site, so let’s start with

The Card Stuff

Since I was expecting some serious finger-flinging, it started, from my point of view with some fairly basic moves.  First up was the Ribbon spread.  It is quite hard to teach this  (a theme to which we will return) – so it was more of a show.  But Wilson includes a few useful details on hand position etc.  In addition to the basic move a few variations on the flipping of the cards are shown.

Springing the cards is the classic magic flourish.  Again – hard to explain since there’s a certain knack.  But some useful tips on the way.

Charlier Cut – one of the flourishes (if it can be called that) I learnt earliest – the classic one-handed cut.  Once the basic move is taught he explains a slightly flashier addition with a twist, and then teaches an extended variation.

After this we move into some more interesting territory.  Flick Up – does what it says on the can.  Flicking (and catching) a card.

TG Murphy’s Triple Cut – a flashy way to cut the deck – launching and rotating chunks of the deck.  Hard to explain.  Harder to do.

Corner Kick Deal – a very flashy way of dealing cards.

The Double Spread – like the ribbon spread but with an interleaved spread after a partial riffle shuffle.

Stunt Spin/Double – spinning a card (or two!) from one hand to the waiting deck.  When you add a second card it becomes madness!

Daryl’s Hot Shot Cut – a quite well known flashy way of revealing a card.

One handed shuffle – a one handed riffle shuffle – for me always one of the coolest moves around.  Unlike some of the moves (see below) there were some useful performer’s view shots on this explanation.

The next section is all about Coins

The Coin Roll – the classic coin flourish.  I’ve never been able to get the hang of this.

Triple Coin Catch – flipping and catching three coins ‘simultaneously’ – extremely useful for deciding multiple arguments simultaneously.

The MusclePass – the ‘modern classic’ with a twist which apparently makes it easier… To me the involvement of the finger makes it looks slightly less magical than the original – but I guess there’s always a compromise.

4 Coin Rolldown – a flashy way to display 4 coins.

Heads or tails – a way to tell which way a flipped coin has landed.  Very sneaky and one of the technically easier items on the disk.

The final section includes Pens etc.

Pen Cap Ninja – worth watching just for the explanation of this.  Hilarious.  Flick a pen cap apart.

Acrobatic Ring – a very old stunt where a ring climbs up a rubber band.

The Pen Spin – a pen spins around in your hand.  An advanced version is also taught which looks even flashier.

Simple Switch – I’ve watched this twice and I’m still not sure why this is called a switch – but it is like flicking a credit or store card between your hands.  I feel like I’m missing something here…

The Globetrotter – a basketball move – spinning the ball in a circle in front of your body.  For all those basketball loving magicians in the UK

Rubber Star – a pretty little rubber band move creating a five pointed star one handed.  One of the easier moves on the disk!

General thoughts

There are lots of good things about this disk.  Each segment starts with multiple performances of the move to wet your appetite.  Where necessary some extra explanatory text notes are added on screen for clarity.

My biggest criticism (and this may be very personal to me – we all learn in different ways) is that I find learning from ‘audience view’ very confusing – I would much rather have performer’s view shots.  That’s something to do with the geography of my brain.  There are a few explanations including performer’s view shots but they are mainly from the front.

I was also surprised by how old Greg Wilson looked!  Am I allowed to say that?!  More seriously, having seen him live I didn’t feel like this disk did justice to his personality – though you got a hint of this in the pen cap ninja routine.  Perhaps this was a conscious decision to go with the ‘cool’ nature of the project but I thought it was a shame.

What has it taught me – I almost certainly don’t have the patience to become a flourisher.  For me Greg’s explanations on the card moves were a bit on the light side – though to be fair some of these ‘knacks’ are hard to explain.  You’re going to have to work at some of this but if you put in the time you will have some cool moves you can do anywhere.  They may even make you stand out from the crowd…

Expected release 20^th May.  Available direct from BBM at £15.99

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