Soft Shoe Monte Questions

[Guest]

I've been working on Jim Steinmeyer's Soft Shoe Monte, but have run into a problem. I may not be reading the instructions correctly, but in the first few moves, after you display the cards then switch to the gaff (which I won't disclose here), it seems the money card inexplicably (from the spectator's point of view) changes position. That is, the real money card is between the two indiscriminate cards, then when displayed via the gaff, it's suddenly on top of the pack. Has anyone dealt with this issue? If I can get around this, I like the routine very much, and would like to perform it for an office function.

Also, I did want to comment that the routine reminds me a great deal of a Gaetan Bloom monte routine from years ago that involved a mylar gaff. Can't recall the name at the moment, but it was also a nice effect.

Gary Brown

[Jeff Haas]

Gary, you're right...the Steinmeyer gimmick bears a resemblance to the Bloom gimmick. Steinmeyer's routine reminds me of "Sidewalk Shuffle" where the money card keeps jumping around magically, especially the ending.

FYI, Bloom's very clever monte is still available on Kevin James' website.

Kevin James catalog

Jeff

[Richard Kaufman]

The "Bloom" card is actually Charles Jordan's--invented almost 100 years ago. Jordon used a cigarette paper rather than mylar, so he didn't get the snapping effect that Bloom achieves. The Bloom card is much better, of course, and allows you to do a lot more.