John Bannon Archives - Bicycle Cards

Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks Vol IV – review

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:01:56 +0000

The Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks series is one of the jewels in the Big Blind Media crown. It’s some years (2014) since we looked at the last volume in this series – though there have been some side volumes (a bit like the Star Wars spin offs) focused on individual creators. But it was worth the wait. Let’s get straight into…

The Tricks

Karmatic by John Bannon
The DVD starts with a corker. This is the Mighty Bannon’s sort of take on the Trick That Cannot Be Explained. Which is to say that it relies on a certain amount of ‘jazzing’. But the premise and method mean that the jamming doesn’t require any sleight of hand – only a bit of on your feet thinking. In effect the spectator shuffles the deck and yet you have successfully predicted the outcome. I like this a lot – and it is dead easy – the only possible negative is that it does somewhat depend on the spectator being able to riffle shuffle.

Coincidence by Bill Simon
The spectator spookily finds two matching pairs without ever knowing how they did it. That bald description doesn’t really do justice to what is a very strong bit of magic from the ingenious Mr Simon. The bad news is there is some set up required. But it is worth it for a really fooling bit of magic that is very easy to do. I love the construction which makes the effect build to an apparently more impossible second phase.

Five Nine King by Martin Gardner
In this clever mathematically based trick, in spite of a high degree of freedom of choices, the spectator manages to find 4 of a kind. It relies on a clever set up and is pretty fooling. For me it is a little on the procedural side, but nonetheless a clever effect.

Company of Three by Roy Walton
This is a Roy Walton classic – where you can locate two different spectators’ cards by spelling and counting. As taught it requires one very simple bit of sleight of hand – but a truly sleight free handling is also taught. I like this. A very simple set up does all the work for you. A lot of bang for your buck.

Sorta Swiped by Jack Tighe
This is a clever and easy take on the mystery card idea. The spectator chooses and signs a card – and through a slightly ‘sucker’ presentation your different-coloured-back ‘lucky card’ morphs into their selection. Two versions are taught – one of which includes the use of a man-servant! This is a strong routine – but you’ll need some extra cards beyond your normal deck to bring it about. But you leave your spectator with a nice souvenir they can keep. There’s a really nice force taught that I’ve not seen before which would have other uses – especially in an Anniversary Waltz type routine.

And there’s more tricks!

Miracle Aces by Stephen Tucker
Another take on the ‘spectator cuts the aces’ type routine. The spectator seems to have a fair degree of freedom and yet still all comes good. A small set up is required and then the procedure is very simple. A clever self-working solution.

Baker Street by Liam Montier
Baker Street is a two-phased mind-reading effect where you can reveal two cards chosen by two spectators. Again, a small set-up is required. I love the way the construction enables you to deduce both selections in an impossibly fair way. Great little worker.

Third Attribute by Michael Breggar
A really nice routine where a card from a borrowed shuffled deck is selected in a fair manner – then shuffled into a face up and face down deck. The spectator picks three random cards from the deck and then you ‘deduce’ their chosen card. The presentation provides beautiful distraction from the very simple method. I’d not heard of Michael Breggar but this makes me want to investigate his work some more.

Swindle Conincidence by Peter Kane
A fantastic combination of ideas which produce the effect of two spectators selecting the same card in the fairest possible way from two borrowed shuffled decks. Although I knew the principles involved this one flew past me first time. I love the sneaky procedure. Fantastic effect.

Card U Reka by UF Grant
A triple prediction effect with a pseudo-card-reading presentation. There’s some set up required to make up the decks for this effect. But you’ll then have a powerful effect without any hard work at all. Sneaky.

Final Thoughts

One of the many things I like about this series is that they don’t just teach some cracking new tricks, but they unearth and polish up some classics (hence here tricks by UF Grant and Peter Kane etc) which may have passed you by. I’m a firm believer that in our attention to all the new releases all the time we often overlook gems from the past.

The teaching is clear and everything you need to know is explained. If you can’t get at least a few routines from this that you will use then I don’t know what you’re doing! This volume reminds me particularly of the strength of even a small set up in terms of getting you so far ahead. Although these are self-working, it would be of real benefit to get your head around a false shuffle or two in order to add another layer of convincing to them.

It is a while since we looked at the last volume, but Ultimate Self-Working Card Tricks Volume 4 feels like it is the best in the series so far. Full of fantastic, workable material.

What are you waiting for? Go out and buy a copy!
You can pick it up direct from BBM for £21.99 or the download for only £20.50 (at the time of writing).

Many thanks to BBM for supplying the review copy.

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John Bannon – Fire When Ready – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 23:01:09 +0000

Fire When Ready completes the ‘Bullet Trilogy’ from the excellent John Bannon. But I approached it with some trepidation since I was a little disappointed with the most recent Bannon releases (Dealing with it Season 1 and Season 2). I’m pleased to say this feels like a real return to form. So let’s get straight into the tricks.

Proxy Shock
Shuffled deck. Spectator remembers a card from the deck which is then shuffled again – and then the performer commits to a card. When the spectator names their card – you may have a miracle on your hands immediately! But alternatively your incorrect selection will instantly change into their card. There are some clever things going on here, as you’d expect. It’s not technically difficult but requires some boldness in presentation. Which is just the way I like it!

Rock the Voque
The spectator reads your mind and comes up with the card you had set aside. The title should tell you a key part of the method. And there’s a nice setting for the effect which ‘justifies’ that part of the method. And then some extra cleverness to give you a wider range – if you catch my drift. Great thinking. Very workable. Could become a classic.

Mundo
This (as you might have guessed if your Latin is any good!) is a sort of speedy (small packet) variation on OOTW. To a premise about intuition the spectator successfully separates the reds and blacks from a shuffled packet in a baffling way. I really like this too – a simple move which flies by turns this into a real miracle for the spectator. Brilliant.

Cut and Run
The spectator shuffles and cuts the deck yet with a few cuts you cut to the four Aces. This uses a sneaky procedure we’ve seen before in Bannon’s works – the Hybrid Holdout. Easy to do – pleasing quicky.

Stealth Aces
This is a super four ace-assembly. Although it uses a Bannon move it is actually a routine from the lovely and talented John Carey. As I watched it I spotted a discrepancy which I felt sure would be key to the trick – but that sneaky man got round it without me noticing! This was all the more annoying when I realised I had already read this effect in his Lucky booklet! I had forgotten how fabulous this is. It is so easy to do – the only ‘move’ flies by – and the magic seems to happen in an instant. Love it.

We’re still only half way!

Big Fat Bluff Aces
This is a rather more complex four ace trick after the last one. The three aces disappear from their packets and the fourth ace’s packet turns into four kings, then in an instant all the aces are back in their packets. This requires a little more handling but is still not difficult to do. As I was watching this I felt like I’d seen this before. Because I had! It was in his Lucky booklet and earlier on the Bullet Party DVD.

Blues Alley Jokers
A card is selected and somehow finds itself sandwiched between two other cards in a surprising way. This one does require a slightly more complicated technique – but with a little practise you should get the hang of it. For me, this was an underwhelming sandwich effect, but you might like it more than me. James Went adds some helpful explanatory commentary on this one.

Clean out of sight
This is a devastatingly clever routine where the spectator merely thinks about a card in a freely shuffled packet – then after testing their intuition you are able to locate their card effortlessly. This is a little bit procedural, but the premise wraps up an old principle in wonderfully new clothes.

Question Zero
A spectator chooses five cards, remembers one of them, shuffles her packet which is then returned to the deck. Yet you find it instantly. Uses the move you’ve already learnt for Blues Alley Jokers!

Line of Sight
This is essentially a card revelation framed in a nice way which relies on a humble glimpse. I love the premise and several different glimpses are taught – which is a useful one for your toolbag. This is another of the routines on the DVD which has been around for a while (it was originally in Dear Mr Fantasy) – but since the earlier publication is hard to find these days this may bring it to a whole new audience.

Final Thoughts

As I said at the beginning, Fire When Read feels like a real return to form. There are some superb effects on here, the majority of which require no complicated sleight of hand but rather rely on subtlety and clever structuring. If you don’t get at least three workable effects out of this I would be amazed.

One small criticism of pretty much any Bannon DVDs is that there are never any ‘live’ performances. Everything is done in the studio. Some are performed to ‘real’ people, and some with no audience at all. There are advantages to this approach – since sound and video quality is guaranteed. But sometimes I long to see the effects performed for real people in the wild. But that’s a really minor criticism.

I would have liked a bit more discussion with Bannon on the theory side of things – since I always enjoy his thinking. But at the end of the day this is full of good, solid tricks. I’ll be coming back to this DVD to work several of these into my impromptu set. Highly recommended.

You can pick up Fire When Ready direct from BBM (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £21.99. If you’re happy with a download, this is slightly cheaper at The Merchant of Magic (£19.99).

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Cameron Francis – Super Mega Card Miracles – review

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 23:01:47 +0000

Super Mega Card Miracles is the latest understated title from Cameron (!) featuring his best versions of some of his favourite effects. Let’s go straight into…

…the tricks

Dedoner
I missed what the effect was first time because I was so amused by the idea of Cameron performing to himself! You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean! This is a kind of triumph meets colour changing deck card location. A strong effect with only basic card handling. Neato!

Collins Thing
Think ‘4 Ace Trick’ but with the kings. But instead of the Kings coming together in one packet, they all disappear in slightly different ways from their packets. And then they are found again in an increasingly more surprising way – the final one appearing in the card case. Minimal set up (you can probably guess what that is!) and pretty easy to do – if you know the most common packet trick count. Beautifully structured, I really like this and will try to keep it in my repertoire.

Switch Jack II
Two cards are chosen and replaced in the deck. Two jacks are placed under the card case, the other two ‘catch’ cards from the deck. The first ‘catch’ is the first selection. But the second is the other two jacks. When the card case is lifted, there is the second selection. A brain frying miracle Love the silliness incorporated into the explanation. You guys rock!

Thanks to Walton
A clever impromptu packet trick where you show 4 red cards and 4 black cards. The black cards are inserted into the red packet one at a time and keep changing colour to red. And in a final kicker four of the cards turn into the aces. This is a neat trick with lots of magic which is fairly easy to do – but you’ll need to work a bit to remember the order of the moves. I think that some spectators might need a little help remembering which packet is which – so clear signalling/presentation required. But a great effect. And it sets you up nicely for…

Precursor
This is the cousin of a 4 Ace trick, where each individual ace performs a different ‘effect’ before all instantly gathering together with the Ace of Spades. A typically whimsical presentation from Cameron and fairly easy to do if you have any familiarity with packet tricks. These two routines do flow really nicely and give you a great impromptu set.

Easy Hof
A card is chosen and lost in the deck. The four aces are used to identify the card. First spelling suit – and revealing the suit of the card. That ace is placed face down on the table. Then spelling value – at this point all the aces turn into the mates of the originally chosen card. And the tabled card turns into the selection. A fun routine with some moves – but not what we used to call finger-flinging!

The Super Mega Card Miracles keep coming – all on one DVD!

Mercury Card Load
So you’d guessed right? This is a way of loading a folded playing card into a playing card box (previously seen on his Murphy’s At the Table Lecture) Nice climax to a ambitious card routine or any other routine where you end up with a MCFed card! This kind of ‘impossible location’ is always powerful – and a big plus of this one is that no special props are needed – just practising a little move. Yet another reason to learn the Mercury Card Fold!

But Not Least
This is a triple card location (really a sandwich effect) where the Jokers do all the work – capturing the selections one by one – the final one turning first up on the way. There’s some really sneaky routining here which means that your work is done before they even know what the effect is. And oodles of misdirection for the only real move. This is top class Cameron.

Stand Up Christ Aces
The Four Aces are placed into the deck according to the spectator’s merest whim. Yet you can locate them in increasingly baffling ways. Nice use of an easy but fooling move from a Colombini routine. I’m running out of superlatives here – but again this is so neatly constructed – John Bannon would be proud. Great routine which you can do (as its name suggests) in the hands or at a table.

One flew over at my behest
This is a card across effect where the spectator’s freely thought of card jumps from one half of the deck to the other half. Invisibly of course. It uses a clever Bannon Move from Mentalissimo (which is always a good start). Clear effect, easy to do. Not the biggest mystery on the selection, but worth watching the performance if only to enjoy the goofy spectator!

Collectors Item
This is a super-smooth collectors plot. Another Bannon move gets you so far ahead you wouldn’t believe it. Everything seems so fair – yet the three selections which have been shuffled into three separate packets all end up ‘caught’ by the four kings. Brilliant construction – not too difficult to do – worker!

Captivated
A packet trick with 4 Kings and 4 Aces. It starts off like a ‘twisting the aces’ effect – but then halfway through the Aces and Kings swap place – and then instantly the Aces sandwich the Kings between them. Think Paul Harris’ Reset with a twist. There’s some clever thinking here, but for some reason this one didn’t captivate me.

Final Thoughts

I’ve seen a lot of Cameron Francis’ work but I really do think that Super Mega Card Miracles is the best collection of his work to date. As I write, another BBM volume featuring Cameron has just arrived through the door – so watch this space to see if it is immediately superseded!

Although the effects aren’t self-working, none of them require really difficult moves and with only a small amount of practise would be within reach of any but the absolute beginner. I don’t want to keep repeating myself, but these routines all show the signs of having been worked over to the last detail – they are brilliantly constructed to maximise impact and minimise effort.

Super Mega Card Miracles comes highly recommended. You can pick it up from BBM (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £21.99. If you prefer a download that is available for £19.50.

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John Bannon – Dealing with it Season 2 – review

Phil Sweeting — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 23:01:08 +0000

It’s almost a year since we looked at Dealing with it Season 1 (where did that year go?) – and it was with some trepidation I unwrapped Season 2 since from memory the first volume was not quite up to his usual standard. Was Season 2 a hit or a flop? Read on in our review…

Let’s start with the tricks…

Chicago Fire – this is a cousin of Chicago Opener which largely does away with the need for extra cards. Two spectators choose cards in a pretty fair looking way (during which the spectator also shuffles the cards). When the first card is named it is seen to have a message on the back of it. When the second spectator looks for their card it has vanished. And it is found to have swapped places with the first selection and now has a message on its back. This is a sneaky routine relying on a brilliantly bold move which gets you miles ahead. Well worth a look.

La Gioconda – don’t even ask why this is called what it is! It’s a sort of sandwich trick where the two jokers find a chosen card instantly. Bannon credits Roy Walton’s Smiling Mule routine – but the final reveal reminds me of an effect I used to do years ago from a Karl Fulves book. Bannon’s version has an extra moment of magic – as one of the Jokers instantly jumps from the top to the bottom of the deck. As so often there are some nice subtleties here – and it doesn’t require too much hard wok.

On the border – this is a refinement of an Alex Elmsley effect (The Mexican Prediction) which is both baffling (to a layperson) and very easy to perform. In effect, the deck is shuffled, then the spectator cuts off some of the cards, shuffles and stops whenever they like. In spite of the fairness of the selection, the two cards you have set aside earlier predict the suit and value of their freely chosen card. This is a cracking little effect where the strength of the effect more than makes up for the small amount of set up which is necessary. I really like the subtlety of this. Once you’ve set up, reset is not too complicated, but will take a moment. Really neat.

Prophet Motive III – after an incredibly fair-looking sequence of shuffling and dealing the spectator still somehow manages to find the mate of the card you set aside at the beginning. This is classic Bannon where the ingenious procedure (which doesn’t feel too procedural) does all the work for you. A great impromptu effect.

Rockstars – to a quirky patter story the 4 aces are buried in the deck and yet instantly reappear in your hand. This is based on a Jack Carpenter effect and is slightly more technically demanding than some of the routines on the DVD.

Three Part Harmony – this is a routine which builds nicely as first of all you locate for Kings, then the spectator manages to make them return to the deck, and finally the four aces show up. For me this is probably the weakest routine on the DVD, but I’m not sure I can pinpoint why. It just didn’t engage me – in spite of the over the top assistant in the performance video.

Flipside Assembly – this is hard to define – but it is sort of like a backwards Ace Assembly. It’s an interesting plot – and with the quirky patter idea quite fun to perform. You need to use a fairly common move – but the routine relies on it heavily so you may need to practise this. This pleased me more than I expected! The box blurb bills this as a bonus effect but like every item on the disk it appears on the main menu – so perhaps this is after the fact marketing since it only takes the total up to 7 effects.

The JB Double Lift – hard to explain the details of this one – but as its name suggests it is John’s own handling of a double lift. Doubles are very personal – so you’ll have to try this yourself and decide if you want to use it! It looks pretty fair.

What do we think?

I feel like Dealing with it Season 2 is a return to form – and I would say there is more usable stuff here than on Volume 1. As usual with BBM releases the shooting and production quality is high – explanations are at a good pace and crediting is good.

If you like John Bannon, I’m amazed you’ve actually read the review – just go and buy it. There are several routines on here I would use, and I’m going to steal (is it stealing if it’s been published?!) one of the presentational hooks too.

You can pick up Dealing with it Season 2 from MagicShop.co.uk for £17.99 (or as a download for £15.50).

(Many thanks to BBM who supplied the review copy.)

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John Bannon – Paint it blank – review

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 21:43:45 +0000

Paint it blank is a great example of John Bannon’s ability to combine the best of others’ ideas into a really effective piece of magic. Let’s get on with the review.

The Effect

The spectator thinks of a card. You’re able to show that it has ‘turned invisible’; it then turns ‘blank’ and materialises between two jokers; and is finally revealed in all its fullness.

Is it a sandwich? A thought of card reveal? Or some tertium quid? I’m not quite sure how to categorise it, but it is certainly a strong effect which is very easy to do.

What do you get?

It comes with one gaff card and a matching joker. These are in standard Bicycle design so can be used with any normal deck.

The teaching is clear and thorough – though the whole DVD/download lasts less than 15 minutes. I don’t know whether it was shot when Bannon had just arrived from across the pond, but he seemed to be on particularly ponderous form as he explained the effect – like he had only just woken up or was highly medicated!

As usual he credits well explaining the history of the development of Paint it Blank. It was originally published under a different name in the excellent Mentalissimo (regular readers may be pleased or possibly completely uninterested to know that I have finally completed my Bannon library with a much-prized copy of High Caliber!) – but of course the advantage of buying this release is that you get the necessary cards.

So what do we think?

As with most Bannon effects, Paint it blank relies more on subtlety than complicated sleight of hands. The one ‘move’ comes in two flavours. The first involves a pretty boldly discrepant move. The second is slightly longer and though still discrepant (this isn’t real magic you know!) it is less so.

The premise/plot is whimsical but works and leaves the spectator with the impression that they have seen something much more impressive than they actually have.

I really like this a lot. It is very easy to perform and very engaging for the spectator – and seems impossible! The Jokers can easily be added to a deck you’re using for other effects and the structure of the routine means they can equally easily be removed at the end.

Paint it blank gets our highest recommendation and is available direct from Big Blind Media (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £17.99 (at the time of writing).

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John Bannon – Djinn and Tonic – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 19:33:43 +0000

By way of a late hat tip to National Gin Day (which I just missed!) we’re going to review another limited edition John Bannon release, amusingly entitled Djinn and Tonic. This little booklet containing five fine card tricks complements Lucky, which we reviewed earlier, as the supporting act on his recent lecture tour.

All of the effects in the booklet have been in print before – so if, like me, you are a Bannon aficionado, you may well be familiar with some or all of them. If not, you’re in for a treat!

What’s on the menu?

Montinator 5.0 (see also Fractilicious and The Full Monty if you prefer to learn in DVD format; it was also apparently published in High Caliber – but I still haven’t tracked down a copy of that – hint hint!) is an absolute beauty. Loads of magic packed into a neat little packet with an entertaining plot.

The spectator tries to keep track of one queen (with a different coloured back) amongst a packet of jokers (all of which have the name of the card on their backs) – yet suddenly they change into 3 queens and one joker. That bald description doesn’t do justice to a punchy and fooling trick which is fairly easy to do. Oh, and did I mention all the cards are included (though my comments on the cards which are supplied with Lucky also apply here).

Collusion – elsewhere I have described this as a pseudo-ACAAN. I think these days I might call it a distant cousin. But I love this effect. 2 spectators create a card and a number in an extremely fair-looking way – and yet that card is at that number in the deck. I enjoyed his ‘thinking out loud’ about the dressing for the effect. Love it. So easy to do and yet very fooling. Can’t work out why I haven’t used it more. Going (back) into my repertoire.

Origami Poker (revisited) – I first came across Bannon’s work on this idea back in the superb Dear Mr Fantasy and have subsequently seen it on Move Zero 3 and Bullets After Dark. In effect, after a crazy fair looking mixing procedure with all sorts of freedom you end up with a Royal Flush. I don’t think I rate this effect quite as highly as Bannon (though it is very clever) – but I love the way he writes it up – in the narrative styles which made Dear Mr Fantasy such a fun book to read!

Power of Poker – is an wonderfully clever effect where the spectator makes all the choices and yet you still control the outcome and win the poker match. Again, I saw this first in Dear Mr Fantasy (and it reappeared in Move Zero 4 and Bullets After Dark) and having read this again I’m going to go and make it up in Jumbo Cards and add it to one of my stage sets!

The Bannon Triumph/Play It Straight – (From Impossibilia, Six. Impossible. Things and Bullets after Dark) – a twist on the classic Triumph effect where clever routining reduces most of the work. A card is selected and the rest of the deck mixed face up and face down. In a flash all the cards turn face down apart from one suit of cards. The missing card in the suit is the spectator’s choice.

This is, no doubt, an excellent trick. And as Triumph’s go it is pretty easy to do – which is a massive bonus. But I personally prefer the original Triumph premise and find the outcome here just a little bit of an anti-climax. But each to their own. All that being said, Bannon suggests using it after performing the original Triumph and that could have legs…

Djinn and Tonic is a superb little booklet. I’ll be honest – if you already have a good collection of Bannon material then there won’t be too much new. But if you’re new to Bannon this would be a great introduction to some of his best effects. And the inclusion of the cards for Montinator 5.0 means you can get going straight away.

A good release. And available in the UK exclusively from our chums at Big Blind Media for £19.97 (at the time of writing – but also part of this great value bundle if you’re quick.

With many thanks to BBM for supplying the review copy.

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John Bannon – Dealing with It Vol 1 – Review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:36:16 +0000

Dealing With It is the latest in what I have come to think of as the John Bannon-d Wagon. Unlike his more recent DVD releases which have largely been in the ‘self-working’ arena, this is, instead, a concept album. It covers all the items from his column in the famous Genii Magazine.

There are more moves, by definition, than in the more self-working stuff. But as ever, economy of method and careful routining mean these are within reach of all. Such moves as are needed are explained briefly but clearly. Let’s get in to the tricks…

Heart of Glass – a super quick transposition trick where a card under the glass swaps places with another card on top of the deck. One small move (and he teaches two different options for that) and a super sneaky and clever display makes this a visual and fooling effect.

Cross-Eyed Jacks – a great sandwich routine. The Jacks are buried in the deck with the Ace of Spades sandwiched between them and a card is selected by the spectator. In an instant the spectator’s selection jumps into the middle of the Jack sandwich. A distant cousin of the One Eyed Jack trick I used to often perform from Harry Lorayne’s Close Up Card Magic. Again, easy to do, and appealing.

Rendevouz – a sort of stripped down ‘mystery card’ effect with a most un-Bannon-esque story about a meeting in a bar. I love the economy of this – and the way an extra effect (an ‘implied transposition’) actually conceals your dirty work. Clever thinking.

Queenpins – a chosen card lost in the deck swaps places with 2 queens in the fairest possible way. I really like the way there’s no real set up to this and the switch is very neat. A strong effect.

Uprising – a sort of consecutive elevator effect where a series of black spot cards rise in turn to the top of a packet of red cards and then in an instant jump to a fourth packet. This is well constructed and a different sort of an effect, but if I’m honest just didn’t excite me that much!

Well-Tempered Aces – this is a sort of ace-assembly trick where there is only one packet of indifferent cards. I found this a little confusing to watch – which may be a function of my sleep-deprived nights – but wonder if it is more of a magician’s variation than a lay-person-pleaser. A little more movey than some of the routines on the DVD.

As if these 6 were not enough there are 2 bonus features – which look like they’re left from the Move Zero series!

Hybrid Holdout – a sneaky little procedure which gives the spectator the strong impression that they have very fairly shuffled and cut the deck – but which has in fact retained a top stock. It is taught in the context of an ace-cutting routine which is none too shabby.

Double Dutch Cut – I’ve watched it explained twice and still can’t get my head around why it actually works – a very fooling false cut!

The verdict?

I love Bannon. Just look at this photo of a small section of my library if you’re in any doubt (actually there’s one missing which arrived since I took this, and if anyone can do me a good deal on High Caliber then let me know)! Dealing with it is a strong release. A couple of the routines didn’t appeal to me so much – but to my mind you have 4 really strong effects and 2 very useful utility procedures – which I think is pretty fantastic value. And who knows – you might like the other 2 routines more than me!

Dealing with it is available from the Merchant of Magic for £23.50 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by BBM.

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John Bannon – Lucky – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 20:18:27 +0000

Lucky is the first of a couple of limited edition John Bannon releases for which our good friends at BBM have got their hands on as a UK exclusive – so of course we had to take a look.

It is a 104 page perfect bound book from his 2016 tour containing 10 items – most of which haven’t been in print before (though a couple have been put out on DVD since Lucky was first published).

Let’s tackle them in order.

Chop Shop – is a lovely fractal packet trick (and in the BBM bundle comes complete with the necessary cards). An odd card repeatedly jumps back to the packet in spite of being placed in your pocket. And in a kicker ending all the cards change to aces. This was not new to me (we first saw it on Fractilicious) – but remains a strong effect with superb routining. And it’s not too difficult if you can manage an Elmsley count. Although it is great that they have bundled the cards, I’m not a massive fan of the card stock (and especially the faces of the cards) they have supplied – so I will probably make my own set up. In Bicycle cards of course!

Proxy Shock – this is a subtle and fooling revelation of a card only thought of by the spectator. It requires a degree of confidence to perform well but will be utterly baffling if you can pull it off.

Cut and run – is a full deck running false cut culminating in an ace production! Not only is this a neat idea, I like the way he combines it with later ideas in the book to provide a logical series of effects which are set for one another.

Hybrid Holdout – this was another one that was familiar to me – due to it appearing on Bannon’s forthcoming ‘Dealing with it’ DVD (review to follow next month). It is in effect a very sneaky way of retaining a stock of cards whilst giving the spectator the strong impression that they have shuffled the whole deck thoroughly. A very versatile little procedure.

Stealth Assembly – this is actually a routine by the talented John Carey – using some Bannon moves. Aces are placed on the top of four piles, three of which the spectator stacks. In an instant all the aces have gathered in the fourth pile. This is how I like my magic – simple but bold. And I enjoyed Bannon’s reflections on ‘badinage’ (what you’re going to say to frame the effect).

Big Fat Bluff Aces – you may have already seen this on the Bullet Party DVD (or the book of the same title, or even in High Caliber – which, by the way, I am still trying to get hold of if anyone wants to put me out of my misery!). It is a surprising take on the classic 4 ace assembly. The first three aces disappear from their packets, but then the fourth packet turns into a packet of 4 kings. Then instantly all the aces return to the top of their packets. A nice twist with a degree of Chutzpah required!

Plot Twist – this is essentially Vernon’s classic Twisting the Aces with a typically whimsical Bannon wrapping and a few little subtleties and what I would almost call an extra phase on the end. You’ve probably already got a version of this trick but you might get some new ideas.

Triplicity – Bannon seems to have been more interested in mentalism in recent years and this is a devastating (to the layman) triple demonstration. First you read the spectator’s mind naming their card only thought of. Then you accurately divine its position in the deck. And then at the end you show that the whole thing was predicted in advance. It uses some incredibly devious (yet wonderfully simple) principles which you have probably come across before. But the whole thing is wrapped up into a very strong routine. Definitely a keeper. (in spite of the paragraph which gets repeated on page 80-1!) (This also appeared on the excellent Move Zero Vol 4)

Blues Alley Jokers – this is a quirky little sandwich effect based on a Jack Carpenter idea. Two Jacks are reversed in the deck near the top and the bottom and a selection is made from somewhere in between. The performer cuts to one of the Jacks and then as he apparently tries to cut to the other one using only one hand, we suddenly discover that the chosen card has appeared between the two Jacks in the performer’s other hand. This plays better than I’ve described it, but does require some slightly more advanced handling than the rest of the material in this book.

A Fred by any other name – this is a twist on the classic Fred (or Phil) trick where you use an ordinary ungaffed deck – and instead carry with you a card with all the ‘names’ of the playing cards on it. I like the way this sort of turns the original concept on its head and retains the ‘gag’ value of the original, but uses an ordinary deck. Typical Bannon cunning. You could argue that the effect is slightly less ‘clean’ for this – but magic always involves some kind of compromise (unless you can actually do real magic!) and this seems like quite a sensible one.

A lucky find?

It’s Bannon so I came to Lucky predisposed to like it. But it’s not just the magic, I love his down to earth and stimulating (provocative) style. Like his spoken style, he writes laconically, but every word is worth reading.

I think Lucky contains something for everyone, so would encourage you to head down to BBM’s special Bannon Sale section to get yourself the book or a bundle deal before they all go! (And watch this space for a review of the delightfully titled Djinn and Tonic very soon)

Thanks to BBM who kindly supplied the review copy.

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John Bannon – ESP By the Numbers – review

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 00:01:41 +0000

ESP By the Numbers is a new John Bannon release – which should be enough to get you interested! Here’s our review…

The effect – a spectator makes 5 free choices to choose some ESP cards. Not only have you predicted the order of the symbols they have chosen, but each card has a random number on it and you have predicted (in an amusing way) the total.

What do you get?

You get a link to a 27 min streaming video. Some nicely printed ESP cards in a cardboard box which declares itself an ESP Ability Test and a printed ‘prediction card.’

Our rambling thoughts…

As a long-time magician and mathematical/analytical thinker this is one of those effects which is difficult to review since it is very hard to imagine its impact for a layperson. The principle was immediately obvious to me when I watched the performance for the first time.

However, my suspicion is (and I haven’t yet had a chance to try it out on a normal person!) that this would fly past most non-magicians. Bannon has taken an old principle and given it something of a new lease of life by changing the way in which it is applied.

The wonderful thing is that the clever principle makes this entirely self-working. You simply have to follow the procedure to make it work.

It would seem best to do it as a one-off – since the best way to help to disguise the working is to mess up the ‘discard piles’ after they have made their selections. I also think (but may be overthinking – due to magician’s guilt!) – that the effect would be massively strengthened if you were able to do a convincing false-shuffle at the beginning of the effect.

ESP By the numbers is easy to do with a strong and clear effect and nicely printed cards. I have a couple of tiny questions about the box the cards come in. I love the way it is printed to add ‘authenticity’ to the effect, but the downside is that it is not like a standard card box. Now you may think this makes it even more convincing – but it also makes it a bit larger than is strictly necessary. It might be possible to turn this very tiny quibble into a plus – if you had a whole close up mentalism routine with very minimal props which all fitted into the box!

Although reset is simple it will take a few minutes – so as mentioned above this might be better off as a one off trick.

And there’s more

But explaining all this takes less than 15 minutes. So as if this were not enough, the rest of the download covers an additional effect called Matrix Reloaded.

This is another application of the principle in ESP By the Numbers. I was momentarily distracted at the start of this effect as I watched it and so I was actually fooled by this the first time since I thought the spectator had shuffled the whole deck at the start! This is a good sign! There’s a good chance that as the spectator tries to reconstruct this in their head the effect will get even more impossible.

The presentation given involves the performer predicting the mate of a card arrived at in an apparently incredibly fair and random manner.

The procedure is just a little on the long side – but if you keep it moving that should be ok. And the effect itself is utterly baffling. Once you’ve got your head around how these two effects work you will find that you can come up with variations on the theme – indeed Bannon mentions possible presentation idea during the course of the explanation.

All in all I think this is a great value release which packs a powerful punch. Another Bannon triumph!

ESP By the Numbers is available from MagicShop.co.uk for £22.99 (at the time of writing).

(With thanks to BBM who supplied the review copy.)

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John Bannon – Move Zero Vol 4 – review (TOTM – Oct 2017)

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 23:01:19 +0000

Trick of the month is a review again – not of a trick but of the excellent Move Zero Vol 4 – which is due out any day now…

We have loved the Move Zero series and couldn’t wait to get our hands on Volume 4. But there’s always that fear that the quality will drop – or the sequel won’t be as good. Well [spoiler alert] we weren’t disappointed. I guess you really want to know about the tricks first of all, so here’s our review…

Proximity – This is a clever presentational twist on an old principle. The spectator thinks of a card and you make two predictions you think will be ‘close’. When the spectator’s thought of card is located (in a freely shuffled deck), the cards either side are found to match your two ‘predictions’! This is a brilliant way to open the DVD and I love the entertaining twist on a principle you may well already know. And on a very few occasions you’ll get a different but possibly even stronger outcome! This one’s going straight into my impromptu repertoire!

Second Reckoning – this is a remix of Dead Reckoning (from Move Zero Vol 1 or Dear Mr Fantasy). The spectator shuffles the cards and then chooses a bunch. They remember a card at the number they have chosen and the mentally spell out the name of that card. Amazingly without anyone saying anything out loud, the performer stops dealing at the end of their spelling and has stopped on their very card. Very fooling effect – though it doesn’t use a whole deck – which may put some people off. Baffling for the spectator and easy to do. No reset. Brilliant.

Power of Poker – this is a routine which has appeared on at least one other DVD we’ve seen (and also in Dear Mr Fantasy) – but apart from anything else I really liked the jumbo cards he used in this version! Essentially, in spite of the the fairness of all the spectator’s choices, they manage to deal you a royal flush which beats their full house.

Banco – a spectator makes all the choices and yet you end up with all the envelopes full of cash! This is a nice example of taking a principle from one effect and moving it to another area. This is undeniably clever, but for me seems slightly less fooling than its playing card equivalent. On the other hand, effects with cash always pique a spectator’s interest and so it may be that the hook makes up for any possible shortcomings in the trick. To use the presentation Bannon uses you will need to purchase a few special bank notes which you can probably pick up online.

Depth Charge – this is a very clever ACAAN type of effect. One spectator chooses a small packet of cards to create a number. The second spectator creates a random card out of two that have been randomly shuffled to. This is a great example of how ‘layering’ really obscures the method. It looks so fair and the result is devastating. There is a very simple ‘move’ involved – but it is so easy it doesn’t disqualify it from the Move Zero label! One of the sneakiest ACAANs I have seen – and definitely a worker.

Lost in Translation – this is a fun prediction effect where three playing cards stand in for three words – which you can reveal. And then there’s a nice cheesy kicker (!) at the end. It’s a whimsical little effect which doesn’t have the feel of a card trick even though in one sense it is. If the gag appeals to you then it will be an easy addition to your repertoire. But I suspect not everyone will want to use the gag! You could easily take the idea and weave your own version around it.

View to a skill – this is a clever take on the classic Miraskill (which can be found, amongst other places, in The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks) which removes all the sleight of hand (instead utilising some sleight of mouth!) and turns the thing into more of a game. Typically lateral Bannon thinking here to make a fun effect. I love the way it is structured to cancel out methods in the spectator’s mind. The dealing procedure makes this a fairly long effect – so you will need the right context to perform – but it is a great one to have in your bag.

GoFiguration – after a very fair looking series of shuffles and decision by the spectator, you have managed to arrive at four of a kind. This is a masterclass in layering methods and subtle manoeuvers. Another really strong effect for very little effort.

Triplicity – the spectator cuts to a random number of cards, then remembers a card at that number in the deck. First you read their mind, then you reveal what number their card sits at (once the deck has been cut) and finally you reveal that you predicted both things in advance. This is another great routine which very much works itself but would be utterly baffling to a layperson.

What do we think?

This is the fourth volume in an excellent series. It has been some time since I looked at the earlier volumes which makes comparisons hard, but my sense this time is that this material is more consistently strong than the earlier disks. And they were excellent so that gives you some indication of the quality here.

There are several effects here which are well worth having up your sleeve when you’re out and about – they need no real preparation and are easy to do. Although this series is aimed at those who are new to card magic I think that even an old hand will learn a thing or two here.

In addition to the strong magic, there are insightful gems to be found in the interview segments which intersperse the magic. Like the earlier volumes there are also ‘Trick Bag’ sections which takes a look at some of the principles used in the effects in some more detail – which may help you utilise them in your own ideas. The final interview section has some pointers for ‘next steps’ for the magician who is just starting out. These could be really useful if you’re just finding your way with sleight of hand.

As always, everything is well attributed/credited. As you’ll notice, some of the effects have been published in recent years – so if you’re the sort of person that likes learning from books, you could do a lot worse than looking up his recent books.

Move Zero Volume 4 is unreservedly recommended and you can pick it up from MagicShop.co.uk – just as soon as it is released – for £26.99.

(Review copy kindly supplied by BBM)

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