The Genii Forum

Marty Jacobs

I've just finished writing an article on "The Four Burglars" (also known as "The Four Robbers") for my Ruseletter: Easy Does It: Refined Robbers Even though this classic card trick is well-known by the general public, I still think it is an entertaining piece of card magic. A few...

Marty Jacobs

Thanks. I'll add that one to the list, too.

Marty

Marty Jacobs

Today marks the 150th birthday of the famous magician and escapologist Harry Houdini. I was surprised to learn that Harry celebrated two birthdays: one on his actual birthdate and a public one on the 6th of July. I am not an expert on Houdini, but this fact was new to me. I have written a short blog...

Marty Jacobs

For anyone still interested in this old classic, I've just posted an article about it in my Vernonesque column : Vernonesque: Tongue Twister The article links my personal handling of Vernon's "Twisting the Aces". I'd tried to resist messing with what is already an excellent method. However...

Marty Jacobs

Thanks for all the information. I'm including a history of the trick in the introduction of the book, so these clarifications are helpful. Here's the draft chapter (it needs some work): Chapter1: History of the Plot All the available evidence suggests that Smith got there first. However, I agree wit...

Marty Jacobs

Thanks, I bought this a while ago. Your post has reminded me to re-read it, though! Like all of Jon's compilations, this is an invaluable source of information about the plot.

Marty

Marty Jacobs

Thanks for sharing this performance, Mark. I often perform Daley's trick as the finale to a short three-trick act as well. The exact sequence tends to change depending on how I feel. My current favourite combination is to begin with a personal handling of "Twisting the Aces". I then transf...

Marty Jacobs

I've resurrected these blog posts and added them as a single "long read" to my new blog: Daley Dilemma: How Do We Fix the Four Weaknesses of Dr. Daley's Last Trick? I've updated the content to reflect changes in how I think about these issues today and included some potential fixes for eac...

Marty Jacobs

I have just finished reading Chris Wasshuber's article on this particular matter, and I find it an exciting and well-formed opinion piece. However, based on the principle of Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is most likely to be true (without any other evidence). In this case, it seems plausib...

Marty Jacobs

Thanks. I'll take a look at it.

Marty

Marty Jacobs

Thanks, Philippe. I have read "Amazing Prediction", and the trick certainly lives up to its name! However, Harry's routine is more complex than the one I am suggesting. The addition of the two values also indicates a location in the deck, which is not something that I am doing here. In the...

Marty Jacobs

I recently posted a new card trick on my blog, "The Tell-Tale Hearts" , which follows the "Clue Cards" plot. Instead of requiring the participant to remember a specific card, this trick involves finding three cards with the same suit that add up to the value of the chosen card. T...

Marty Jacobs

I can't imagine that a lay person would be able to go home, remember the entire sequence, and repeat it. I have had this happen, but only once or twice (after the person had watched the trick more than once). The people who figure it out tend to be mathematicians or engineers. Interetsingly, they u...

Marty Jacobs

I agree that it's important to avoid mentioning the number of cards used in order to make it more difficult for the spectator to reconstruct the method. You can also use the Count Back Force to enable a spectator to name a two-digit number below twenty to force a nine-card packet on a person without...

Marty Jacobs

I wasn't entirely sure "Richard Kaufman 2" was you, Richard. You could have claimed it was an AI-powered bot spreading disinformation. I hear they're all the rage these days! ;) The handling in the New Invocation is the eighteen-card version, though. Jim told me that he considers that vers...

Marty Jacobs

Since creating this thread, I've developed a few additional variations of Jim's classic card trick. Ten in total. Here are links to the explanations: ⋅ Elaborative Encoding - This is, essentially, Jim's original handling of the trick with a memory-inspired presentation. ⋅ Lucky...

Marty Jacobs

Having little else to do, I wrote a little ditty that conforms to Max's format at least (eight syllable lines, two couplets)-- Or if thou woudst redeem thy soul But pay me back, this modest toll; Draw, by means of God’s good grace The key to Heaven’s gate--an Ace Thanks, Dennis. I like this a lot. ...

Marty Jacobs

Yeah, the narrative isn't clear in my write-up. My blog is really a public notebook of what I'm working on at the moment so I don't forget things! I want the participant to lose their soul but be given an opportunity to win it back. The game involves finding the Four of Clubs, which results in the p...

Marty Jacobs

No problem, Edwin. Although some magicians may disagree with me, I believe that visual effects are a valid form of magic (I have a degree in Computer Animation and SFX, so I'll admit, I'm biased). Creating these videos requires a great deal of effort and creativity, which many people may not fully a...

Marty Jacobs

And no offence taken. I believe pretty firmly that we should only give advice/critiques when asked to do so. I happen to agree that the poetry could be better. I'm working on a presentation which is delivered entirely through rhyming prose. This post doesn't include my actual performance script, whi...

Marty Jacobs

Dennis, I wasn't asking for feedback on my poetry. Max Maven wrote the original poem. I've modified it slightly to involve two force cards. If it was good enough for Max, then it is good enough for me. Your suggestion for an alternative forcing procedure is more helpful. I like the idea and might pl...

Marty Jacobs

Edwin, the guy with the colour-changing T-shirt, was likely Kevin Parry. He's a very talented VFX artist. The video you mention is called The Ten Types of Magic . Kevin also filmed an explanation video: How I Tricked Millions of People . Penn and Teller also included a routine inspired by Richard Wi...

Marty Jacobs

Again this is nothing to do with the trick in question and hopefully not to go too much off topic but I feel a card can mean anything you want it to mean. There really are no rules in cartomancy. The cards and the meanings thereof are merely an assist to the practitioner's heightened intuition. I f...

Marty Jacobs

Just as a matter of interest and not that this has anything to do with the trick but the meaning of the four of clubs to me personally is "creating system and order out of chaos". I don't necessarily use historical meanings in a reading although there is a touch of numerology inherent in ...

Marty Jacobs

That's precisely why I didn't pick the obvious question. Plus, Max Maven is his "real name", and I thought Max would appreciate a more obscure fact. It's a great episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air . I saw it when it first aired, and this was also the first time I saw Max Maven on TV. I...

Marty Jacobs

Ha, I didn't think the password was too tricky. Sorry about that. You can find it on Max's Wikipedia page . If you still struggle to access the page, message me here, and I'll send you the direct link. I didn't link to it directly because this is one of Max's finest tricks, and I didn't want to expo...

Marty Jacobs

I'm planning on performing this devilishly delightful routine by Max Maven (RIP) in a parlour show based on the Essex witch trials . I've written up my thoughts on the routine, including a way for your participant to win back their soul. I've also discovered a way to enable a spectator to name the n...

Marty Jacobs

ChatGPT seems to be getting better at answering questions about The Expert at the Card Table: MJ: But who was S.W. Erdnase? What is the author's real identity? ChatGPT: The true identity of the author S.W. Erdnase remains unknown. The author wrote the book "The Expert at the Card Table" us...

Marty Jacobs

I just published another update to the Exploring Erdnase Book Club. In this post, I discuss the position for the shuffle and the three basic jog shuffles in the Card Table Artifice section of the book:

Erdnase System of Blind Shuffles

Marty

Marty Jacobs

I've just posted the latest update to the Exploring Erdnase Book Club: Secrets of the Professional Card Cheat In it, I take a look at the first few pages of the "Card Table Artifice" section of the book. I've also tried to include some historical context to make the text easier to understa...

Marty Jacobs

So what do I say when I do the sponge ball trick? "Hold tight, don't let go! Can you feel them, yes or no? If you squeeze those sponges you can hear them screaming out for mercy!" Sometimes I add "A bit like the audience actually" That's a great example of a well-scripted line. ...

Marty Jacobs

Yes Marty. But with all due respect your opinion doesn't count! You are not a LAYMAN! I can bloody well assure you that LAYMEN prefer that style! FAR, FAR prefer it! They are ENTERTAINED by it! The opposite style is colourless and it is just like you are showing puzzles to be solved. You really hav...

Marty Jacobs

Yes, well put Brad. That separation between the script itself and the performance of the script is key. The REAL reason you do not favour the fast pacing and rapid-fire one liners is that it does not fit your personality. No, I dislike this way of presenting magic as a spectator. I don't enjoy it my...

Marty Jacobs

Yeah, I don't think she's a bad person or even a bad author, and I recommend her books all the time (she's discovered a formula that resonates with young readers in particular). However, she could at least say thank you to the likes of Jill Murphy, who's books clearly inspired the Wizarding World of...

Marty Jacobs

Yeah, I was joking about muggle. I've always thought it sounded derogatory, e.g., you dirty, filthy, half-blooded muggle! I'm also not a big fan of J.K. Rowling. Her ideas are appealing but derivative (I'm convinced she lifted a lot of the better ideas from other children's books, such as Tim and th...

Marty Jacobs

While I greatly admire the presentational skills of the traditional pitchman, I'm not a fan of using this delivery for the performance of magic when not selling tricks. The fast pacing and rapid-fire one-liners make the performance sound like a sales pitch (which I guess is the point). I prefer a mo...

Marty Jacobs

I do think the words we use are important. As a hobby and profession, magic needs more female magicians. If being more careful with the words we use helps to address this gender imbalance, then I think that's a small price to pay. "Card magician", "cardician", "card manipula...

Marty Jacobs

I was reading this wise advice this morning. "It is a mistake for the conjurer to feel that he can afford to appear before an audience and clothe his feats with suitable patter which he will invent as he goes along. It is just as much a mistake to learn your patter word for word to be repeated...

Marty Jacobs

It had to be asked... :-) Did Gallaway write Erdnase? chat.openai: It is believed that the person who wrote "The Expert at the Card Table," also known as "Erdnase," under the pseudonym S.W. Erdnase was a man named Wilbur Edgerton Sanders. This theory is based on a combination of...

Marty Jacobs

A quick update about the Exploring Erdnase Book Club. I've decided to merge the posts on Substack with the Exploring Erdnase posts on my blog. I've updated all of the articles on Substack to reflect this change: Welcome to the Exploring Erdnase Book Club Exploring Erdnase Book Club: Show Me the Mone...

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