Ads are appearing for a new version of K.E.N.T. 2010. This is what I had to say about the previous K.E.N.T.
They wanted something for nothing, I gave them nothing for something.
Yellow Kid Weil, con man
Back in a Genii column in 2004, I said that both sides of the Kids quotation will play a part in this discussion. Here is what I said then and it's just as true now:
On the nothing-for-something side, we have K.E.N.T., an effect marketed by two benighted peasants, Kenton Knepper and John Mahood. For $15 you get to wade through 25 turgid pages of blather to find out how to identify a thought card. You arent always right, so Kenton suggests you buy another one of his tricks, Kolossal Killer to fix that problem (all of KKs tricks always have a big K somewhere in the title).
Their ad crows that, All we say here is TRUE (their emphasis):
you tell the spectator to make it tough on you and think of one of a few cards he himself removes from his own deck. You never see these. You instruct him how to focus upon his thought of card and you NAME HIS CARD He dares you to tell him what his card is, and that is exactly what you are seen to do. (emphasis in original)
Sounds impressive so far actually it sounds just like Tsunami Impromptu Version, one of the ten effects in my 1987 gambling and mentalism manuscript, TSUNAMI (still available from the classier dealers for a mere $10).
Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Not in this case, because suddenly the K.E.N.T. ad veers sharply left away from the pristine Tsunami effect, and squeals, Like real mindreading, you will at very rare times, miss.
Aside from the bizarre implications of real mindreading missing (wouldnt that make it fake mindreading?), the advertised effect seems to be shrinking quickly from its former miraculous dimensions and admitting that a complete failure is possible.
Can the miracle dwindle any further? Read on, because the truth is further reconstructed by this muddled qualification in the ad:
In an effort of complete disclosure, the effect is you name the entire card. The reality is you name the name or number of the card, not the suit generally. But due to the psychology sed, it appears you have named not only the name, but the suit as well.
Got that? You dont name, the suit generally. Actually, you dont name the suit at all, so for $15 you get to name just the value of the card. Who cares what the method is, if thats all there is to the effect. Keep your money: this is a lousy, grossly overpriced and misrepresented pile of camel dung.
However, there is a reason the K.E.N.T. miracle (at least the one initially claimed) sounded so much like something out of TSUNAMI to me: K.E.N.T. uses the Tsunami Pentacle Force. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of K.E.N.T. in plundering the method without my permission, crippled the effect which brings me to the something-for-nothing side of the Yellow Kid Weil quotation: I have created a trick much better than K.E.N.T. or its latest incarnation and you can have it for free.
Send me an email to bammomagic@cogeco.ca and I'll send it to you.
Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Well, I've sent out a truckload of free tricks today. Let me add one thing: the trick is free, so please feel free to send it to all your friends, especially those poor sods who actually paid for the Knepper-Mahood rip-off. I'm thinking of calling it F.A.R.M (free and really magical).
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Kenton deserves a spanking... I think!
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Due to popular demand (and because I'm sick of getting ripped off by all these morons), I've decided to publish a new edition of Tsunami (Tzunami 2010?) with all kinds of new ideas. In the meantime, here's a taste that I guarantee will fry anyone:
IF YOU SEE THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD TO ENLIGHTENMENT SHOW HIM THIS
(see original TSUNAMI manuscript for presentation, etc.)
1. Shuffle the deck and ensure a 10 is on top. Remember this card (e.g. 10C).
2. Spectator cuts deck into five piles and takes the top five cards.
3. Have him remember and keep the highest card in the hand as his mental hole card (if there are duplicate values, he can think of any one of them).
4. Have him replace the other 4 cards in the deck and have him shuffle the deck.
5. Take the deck. Look through it for your key card. If it isnt there, you know thats the card hes holding. Remove the other 4 cards to make a royal flush with his card. End.
6. If your key card is there, then, logically, the card he is holding is either:
(a) The same value, but a different suit.
(b) A higher value (suit unknown).
7. When you looked through the deck the first time for your key card, you also note whether there are any mates.
If your key card is there, but only two mates, then the missing mate is the thought card (e.g, if 10C, 10H, 10S are there, then thought card is 10D).
Remove the three tens to end.
If your key card is there as well as all mates, then, the thought card is higher in value than a 10 (i.e., J-Q-K-A).
You need to know the suit, so ask red, then one of suits to determine suit (e.g., red? yes, no, ask for suit, yes no).
Assume its a club. Remove the 10C and all the other cards needed for a royal flush one will be missing and that will be his card. End.
USING YOUR OWN DECK
Corner short the non-index corners of the 10C (I use the corner shorter from Hank Lee).
Hand the deck out for shuffling and take it back. Turn it face up and tap the non-index corner on the table. This will automatically injog the 10C (Vernon idea).
With the deck face up, cut the 10C so it is the bottom card of the face-up deck. Turn the deck face down (10C now on top). False cut it to the table.
Have the spectator cut the deck into 5 piles and take the top cards (all as noted above). He pockets his card.
Take the deck back and hold it face down. Look at the outer left corner if you see a gap, the 10C is still in the deck, if you dont, his card is the 10C. Continue as above.
PRESENTATION
The usual. If you have to make bets to find the suit, do this:
1. Bet on color.
2. Bet on suit.
This works best if you lose both times since you have added money to the pot. Now offer to bet double or nothing: if you can read the spectators tells and his best poker hand, you get all your money back. If you cant, he gets double the cash in the pot.
If you won both bets, tell him youll go double or nothing on the next one and then proceed as noted above.
3. Tell the spectator that you will now create the best poker hand that can be made with his hole card even though you dont know his hole card.
4. Run through the deck and remove the four cards to make a royal flush with the spectators card.
Place these four cards on the table face down, in a row, in order, with a space where the spectators card will go.
5. Have the spectator remove his card. Name the card and have him show it. Tell him to place it face up in the space you left for it now turn over the other four cards to reveal the royal flush.
Bob Farmer May 15, 2010.
IF YOU SEE THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD TO ENLIGHTENMENT SHOW HIM THIS
(see original TSUNAMI manuscript for presentation, etc.)
1. Shuffle the deck and ensure a 10 is on top. Remember this card (e.g. 10C).
2. Spectator cuts deck into five piles and takes the top five cards.
3. Have him remember and keep the highest card in the hand as his mental hole card (if there are duplicate values, he can think of any one of them).
4. Have him replace the other 4 cards in the deck and have him shuffle the deck.
5. Take the deck. Look through it for your key card. If it isnt there, you know thats the card hes holding. Remove the other 4 cards to make a royal flush with his card. End.
6. If your key card is there, then, logically, the card he is holding is either:
(a) The same value, but a different suit.
(b) A higher value (suit unknown).
7. When you looked through the deck the first time for your key card, you also note whether there are any mates.
If your key card is there, but only two mates, then the missing mate is the thought card (e.g, if 10C, 10H, 10S are there, then thought card is 10D).
Remove the three tens to end.
If your key card is there as well as all mates, then, the thought card is higher in value than a 10 (i.e., J-Q-K-A).
You need to know the suit, so ask red, then one of suits to determine suit (e.g., red? yes, no, ask for suit, yes no).
Assume its a club. Remove the 10C and all the other cards needed for a royal flush one will be missing and that will be his card. End.
USING YOUR OWN DECK
Corner short the non-index corners of the 10C (I use the corner shorter from Hank Lee).
Hand the deck out for shuffling and take it back. Turn it face up and tap the non-index corner on the table. This will automatically injog the 10C (Vernon idea).
With the deck face up, cut the 10C so it is the bottom card of the face-up deck. Turn the deck face down (10C now on top). False cut it to the table.
Have the spectator cut the deck into 5 piles and take the top cards (all as noted above). He pockets his card.
Take the deck back and hold it face down. Look at the outer left corner if you see a gap, the 10C is still in the deck, if you dont, his card is the 10C. Continue as above.
PRESENTATION
The usual. If you have to make bets to find the suit, do this:
1. Bet on color.
2. Bet on suit.
This works best if you lose both times since you have added money to the pot. Now offer to bet double or nothing: if you can read the spectators tells and his best poker hand, you get all your money back. If you cant, he gets double the cash in the pot.
If you won both bets, tell him youll go double or nothing on the next one and then proceed as noted above.
3. Tell the spectator that you will now create the best poker hand that can be made with his hole card even though you dont know his hole card.
4. Run through the deck and remove the four cards to make a royal flush with the spectators card.
Place these four cards on the table face down, in a row, in order, with a space where the spectators card will go.
5. Have the spectator remove his card. Name the card and have him show it. Tell him to place it face up in the space you left for it now turn over the other four cards to reveal the royal flush.
Bob Farmer May 15, 2010.
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
I posted similar messages over there at Talkmagic.co.uk and the result was:
"You have been banned from this forum.Please contact the webmaster or board administrator for more information."
Of course, once you've been banned, you can't contact anybody. I'll just add those guys to my lumpenmagus list. Rip-off artists seem to be so sensitive to criticism and apparently have friends who will conspire to conceal the facts.
"You have been banned from this forum.Please contact the webmaster or board administrator for more information."
Of course, once you've been banned, you can't contact anybody. I'll just add those guys to my lumpenmagus list. Rip-off artists seem to be so sensitive to criticism and apparently have friends who will conspire to conceal the facts.
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Keep fighting the good fight, Bob!
- Ben Harris
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Thanks, Bob.
Benny
Benny
Creator of the famous "Floating Match On Card" illusion.
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
I've started the new edition of TZU-NAMii Reloaded. I've found more than 20 years of notes and ideas from users all over the world and I'll be incorporating all those ideas in the new edition.
If you want to get on the mailing list to be notified when TZU-NAMii Reloaded is available, send me an email to bammomagic@cogeco.ca and I'll not only add you to the list, but send you two free tricks.
If you've got a great idea you've used for the original trick, please send it to me for consideration for inclusion.
If you want to get on the mailing list to be notified when TZU-NAMii Reloaded is available, send me an email to bammomagic@cogeco.ca and I'll not only add you to the list, but send you two free tricks.
If you've got a great idea you've used for the original trick, please send it to me for consideration for inclusion.
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Bob,
I myself have noticed some problems with that TM forum.
They may have banned you for mentioning selling your product, (they consider that an ad.) They also ban people who disagree with them sometimes. If they think you were being unreasonable about it, they probably banned you for that. Don't take it too seriously.
I'll try to figure out what happened.
I myself have noticed some problems with that TM forum.
They may have banned you for mentioning selling your product, (they consider that an ad.) They also ban people who disagree with them sometimes. If they think you were being unreasonable about it, they probably banned you for that. Don't take it too seriously.
I'll try to figure out what happened.
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Re: Kenton Knepper Rips Off Tsunami Again
Yeah, maybe it should be called Don't Talk Magic.