The Effect

This is (one of) Mark Elsdon’s take on the classic ‘which hand’ effect. The premise for this utilises the Truth Teller/Liar puzzle which you may well know. Briefly, the spectator chooses whether to play the role of a truth-teller or a liar, and then hides a coin or small object in their hand. They also have the option of switching hands or not. And yet the performer is able to reveal exactly where the object is hidden.

The Pros

This is a fabulous method for this effect – which doesn’t need any of the electronic tomfoolery of some modern methods – and is incredibly easy to do allowing all effort to go into presentation. Irrelevant to the magic, but I also love the derivation of the title!

Mark explains the whole thing very clearly in the early pages of a 36 page booklet or pdf (we had the download version). I love the method and presentation. He then outlines several variations utilising slightly different objects and presentations.

And if this were not enough, we then get Colin McLeod, Peter Turner and Michael Murray’s presentations/extensions of the idea.

The variations

Colin’s version extends it to a showier piece with more participants. Peter’s uses a slightly different premise which I personally preferred. And is full of other little gems on the ways. In fact I think I might well try to combine this with one or two other effects which a related premise (e.g. Lolli Hero).

I love Michael’s work generally and applaud his desire to get a further reveal out of the thing. But I found his take a little too complicated – certainly on first reading. Perhaps it would come across more clearly in performance, or if I wasn’t reading the day after I flew to the other side of the world…

The Cons

I’m really not sure there are any really. Tequila Hustler is delightfully impromptu (you can work with the people and objects that happen to be around) and wonderfully simple. I suppose the standard drawback of all these kinds of routine is the fact that at the end of the day they are only 50/50 choices. But with good presentation and moderate repetition you can overcome that.

So I would highly recommend you grab a copy of Tequila Hustler and get hustling! It’s available as a download or physical booklet.

MagicShop.co.uk stock both – the physical book is £20.99 or the ebook is £18.99 (at the time of writing).

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

Mark Elsdon – Tequila Hustler – review

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The post Mark Elsdon – Tequila Hustler – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

X-Ray is not just a which hand effect. Though it does enable you to do that (if you’re unsure what that means – the spectator can hide a ball or indeed a coin in one of their hands and you are able successfully to divine which hand it is in). But the principle is more versatile than that, so you can also perform a Kurotsuke type effect – where you are able to reveal which spectator in a larger group has picked the only black ball amongst all the white ones.

What do you get?

You receive a smart metal tin which contains the gimmick (in fact 2 versions of part of this – can’t say more without exposure); all the balls you need for which hand or Kurotsuke, and a small bag for either storage or for use in the Kurotsuke effect (though you could replace this with a different bag if you wanted to).

You also receive a link and password to enable you to access online instructions. I have had a few speed issues with accessing the online videos – so you may prefer to download them to watch at your leisure.

The teaching

The instructional video is just under half an hour long, and by the end of it felt a bit like they were just trying to pad it out – since the method is not complicated to explain. Marc Levelle takes you through the teaching, in discussion with Rasmus, sometimes prompting him when there are extra points to be made. It is pretty much focused on the mechanics – not too much in the way of presentation tips etc.

One of my pet peeves is that it only contains a ‘studio performance’ – and to be honest that isn’t really a performance. I’m sure it is more expensive to go out and about and film real reactions, but it is helpful to get a sense of how an effect plays in the real world.

In addition to the two main presentations various extra ideas are explored. These include substituting other items for the which hand effect and adding items to extend the which hand to a three item version (both of which would require extra items you would need to supply). Given the essentially ‘50/50’ nature of the Which Hand routine, I think the three item reveal is probably a stronger effect. There is also a neat variation on Kurotsuke using a bank note and blank papers.

The verdict

On the positive side X-Ray utilises a very simple method – so there’s not really anything to go wrong or break. It’s very practical for the real world and you’ll be able to perform it pretty much straight away. It’s a nice touch that they have provided the bag and extra balls for the Kurotsuke effect (which is probably the version I would use) making it a complete package.
The gimmicks are of good quality and (unlike criticisms of the first release of OddBall – though that was addressed in Odd Ball 2) the balls all look similar enough in style not to be suspicious. There’s no ‘reset’ – in fact you could get in and out of this very easily in more or less any situation.

My only real question is, Is it really unique? This method has been used before, though to my knowledge utilising a slightly different ‘gimmick’. They do actually briefly mention the most similar one in remarks at the end, with the suggestion it is a little outdated. A quick whiz around the magical literature would suggest Rasmus probably isn’t the first to come up with this idea of using the particular gimmick he does. But there is little genuinely new in the magic world and it is notoriously hard to say whether a particular release is genuinely unique.

All in all, if you don’t yet have a version of this effect, then I would say it is well worth a look – simple, direct and reliable. If you’re already performing something similar, I’m not sure how much this offers, but its simplicity is its real selling point for me.

X-Ray is available from the Merchant of Magic for £45.99 (at the time of writing).

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

The post Rasmus – X-Ray – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

The effect

It’s slightly misleading to talk of ‘the effect’ since in fact in essence this is a subtle principle which they then wrap up in a number of different kinds of presentation. The principle helps you to know which hand a small object will be in. The presentations vary wildly. In one, you do a ‘psychological’ experiment – and not only demonstrate that you knew all the choices a spectator would make, but that you predicted the final outcome in advance. In another you also reveal the name of a friend which they’ve written on the piece of paper. The variations are really up to your imagination – and which other principles you might want to bring into play.

Hands Down the best which hand routine?

It is a very clever idea – and the two Darryls helpfully outline a number of sneaky principles you can weave in and subtleties to help to disguise the mechanics. It is pretty easy to do – but perhaps the best part (compared to many other methods on the market) is that it doesn’t require any special props – you can pretty much do it with whatever’s lying around. They suggest using a post-it note in one routine and a playing card in another – but you could use a business card or anything that you could lay your hands on.

I love effects like this which rely mainly on subtlety – and being a step or two ahead of your audience – and I think this would be a great effect to have in your armoury. The ‘psychological’ presentation could be very funny in the right hands (!) but I think the one involving a friend’s name could potentially have greater impact (though does require another principle – which is taught – to be utilised).

You see a live performance of this latter version and a studio performance of the former – which gives you some idea of what the effect looks like in the real world. The DVD also contains a clear explanation of all aspects of the routine. It only lasts 22 minutes – but that is more than enough to get you performing. You don’t get anything else in the package because you don’t need anything else that you wouldn’t already have lying around!

I can see this getting some use – and am looking forward to playing around with the principle to mould it into something which suits my own performing style and preferences. A good release from a couple of magicians I’ve never heard of and at this low price, well worth a punt.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £12.99 (at the time of writing).

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

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