Praise for Michael Close...

[Ray Eden]

I've struggled with the Faro Shuffle for years. Recently I bought Michael Close's Workers series DVDs and found out about his handling for the shuffle. It's not hype. Within hours I was able to do the eight runs to bring the deck back to new deck order following his instructions. I'll be spending the next couple days smoothing things out, but damn...Michael has made this shuffle EASY!

Ray Eden
American Magician in Finland

[mrgoat]

The Fred Robinson book is another good source to learn it from.

[Harry Lorayne]

So many have told me that they learned the faro from Close-Up Card Magic.

[Ray Eden]

Close mentions in his notes on the Faro that he learned it from your book, Harry. BTW...I highly doubt you remember me, but I remember all those times at Reuben's Deli soaking up the magic from you; although, I spent most of my time with Wes.

[Harry Lorayne]

Interesting, I didn't know Michael said that. So, might as well go to the original. Good old Reuben days!

[Ray Eden]

Here's the quote:

"I learned to do a faro shuffle between the ages of 12 and 13. I learned it from the description given in Harry Lorayne's book Close-Up Card Magic."

[Michael Close]

When I was around thirteen and living in central Indiana, I ordered Harry Loraynes first four books (Close-up Card Magic, Personal Secrets, My Favorite Card Tricks, and Deck-sterity) from Stoners Magic Shop in Fort Wayne. These are excellent books, and I recommend them to this day.

I really wanted to be able to do Vernons Aces and Favorite Aces and Kings from those books, so I worked on the faro shuffle as described in Close-up Card Magic. (I think this was the first description of the shuffle I had ever read.) I was isolated in the little town I grew up in, so I diligently practiced the shuffle according to Harrys instructions, and in a couple of years I had mastered it to a degree of confidence that I could use it in tricks that only required a couple of perfect shuffles.

Later, I studied Ed Marlos handling of the shuffle as explained in his The Faro Shuffle booklet (part of the Revolutionary Card Technique series). Most important were the years I spent with Harry Riser discussing the shuffle. Riser did the shuffle from the bottom up (as explained in the Marlo booklet), and I switched over to that method.

Ive been doing the shuffle for almost fifty years; its my sitting-at-the-airport/watching-TV move. Im sure Ive passed the ten-thousand-hour mark with it.

With the publication of the Workers series, I started to think about the pedagogy of sleight-of-hand not just explaining how a sleight is done, but explaining how to learn how to do the sleight. I had some insights into how to teach the mechanics of the faro shuffle. One evening, at the Houdini Lounge in the Monte Carlo hotel, I sat with my friend Ken Zarifes and explained the ideas I had on how to do the shuffle. I didnt let him touch the cards. I just had him watch, absorb, and comprehend the ideas. Then I asked him to go back to his hotel room and try it out. We talked the next night, and Ken was able to get the cards to weave with some reliability, even with that brief instruction. This gave me the confidence that I was on to something.

I published my instruction for the faro shuffle in an ebook that is available on my website. There are certainly many other descriptions and explanations of the faro shuffle out there, but if you want to save yourself some time, you might want to check out what I have to offer.

Thanks for reading.

[Ray Eden]

Hello Mr. Close,

I've been trying to get the hang of the faro shuffle for years. Your instructions were so good that I was doing it with consistency within a few hours. True...I have been able to do the faro shuffle on a limited level, but I'm really happy to be hitting it with consistency now. I'm as giddy as a school girl. LOL

[Harry Lorayne]

When I was around thirteen and living in central Indiana, I ordered Harry Loraynes first four books (Close-up Card Magic, Personal Secrets, My Favorite Card Tricks, and Deck-sterity) from Stoners Magic Shop in Fort Wayne. These are excellent books, and I recommend them to this day.

Interesting - those are the four books (plus The Epitome Location and 16 new items) in my The Classic Collection, Vol. 1. (Thanks for the plug opportunity!) Also interesting that Vol. 4(!) of that (The Classic Collection) series is almost done.

[Pete McCabe]

One evening, at the Houdini Lounge in the Monte Carlo hotel, I sat with my friend Ken Zarifes and explained the ideas I had on how to do the shuffle. I didnt let him touch the cards. I just had him watch, absorb, and comprehend the ideas. Then I asked him to go back to his hotel room and try it out. We talked the next night, and Ken was able to get the cards to weave with some reliability, even with that brief instruction.

I read a study many years back about what you might call mental practice. They took a group of people and measured their ability to throw darts. Then they separated them into three groups. One group practiced throwing darts. One group did nothing. The third group thought about throwing darts.

The group that practiced got better. The group that did nothing did not get better. The group that thought about throwing darts got better. Not as much improvement as the group that actually did throw dartsI seem to recall they had about half as much improvement.

I always thought this was a fascinating result.

A few years back I learned about mirror neurons, which are in a specific area of your brain and seem to have the function of causing you to experience things that you see other people experience. So if you see someone eat a lemon, the mirror neurons are responsible for you having a mild sour taste reaction. (BTW, I believe that mirror neurons will turn out to be the main reason of why having an expressive assisting spectator is so powerful).

With both of these things in my mind I'm not surprised that Ken was able to learn something from just watching Mike do the faro and think about what he was doing. I learned a lot about the faro by something else that Mike recommends, which is to do a tandem faro with someone who is already an expert. The expertI was lucky enough to have Mike himself do this after a lecturedoes one hand and you do the other. That really gives you the feel of the move in a way that is difficult to achieve any other way.

I wonder how many other moves can be taught that same way.

[Bob Farmer]

For the "Unshuffled" effect, I made a few additions to make it practically self-working.

First, I added some more marks on the side of the deck to indicate where to cut. With so many marks on the cards already, a few more will not be noticed.

Second, I took a bar of "Cascade" soap and rubbed it around the edge of every card, then wiped off the excess with a cloth. This makes the shuffle work itself. I think I got this idea from Tony Kardyro via Gary Ouellet.

[erdnasephile]

Bob:

Here in the states, I've only seen "Cascade" dishwasher soap, which comes in powder or self-dissolving "actionpacs". I did a quick google search and those are all the Cascade soaps I can find.

Is the Cascade bar soap you are referencing something only available in Canada? If so, is there a US equivalent?

Thanks!

[Michael Close]

I believe that in the Great White North it is marketed as "Weave & Cascade - the only soap Bob Farmer uses to faro shuffle."

[Bob Farmer]

Whoops -- just looked in my collection of card prep junk and it's "Cashmere Bouquet." I remembered it incorrectly because I had been talking to Mike Close recently and he has this mind-vacuuming app that causes you to forget things to do like complete your sentenc

[Michael Close]

"Cashmere Bouquet" was also Bob Farmer's nickname in high school.

[mrgoat]

"Cashmere Bouquet" was also Bob Farmer's nickname in high school.

Sounds like someone's 'porn name'

[Michael Close]

I should also mention that Django Reinhardt rubbed Brylcreem on his guitar strings to help him play faster.

All seriousness aside, the secret is good instruction and thoughtful, consistent practice.

In the time it took to search the Internet for some secret, magic ingredient, you could have knocked off a couple of hundred shuffles.

[Bill Mullins]

In Minch's "Collected Works of Alex Elmsley" vol 2, he describes the preparation Elmsley used to make a deck easier to faro: He sanded the corners of the deck to round over the short edges of the cards so they would weave easier.

He mentions that Jerry Andrus used the same trick.

[erdnasephile]

I should also mention that Django Reinhardt rubbed Brylcreem on his guitar strings to help him play faster.

All seriousness aside, the secret is good instruction and thoughtful, consistent practice.

In the time it took to search the Internet for some secret, magic ingredient, you could have knocked off a couple of hundred shuffles.

You mean buying things isn't the same as practicing?

[Pete McCabe]

If you rubbed Cashmere Bouquet all over my edges I'd be self working too.

[Ray Eden]

Is the soap a powder or bar variety?

[Bob Farmer]

Bar.

And my nickname in high school was Faromer.

Mike's right, practice makes perfect. I also found that Derek Dingle's idea worked really well for me. I think it's in the Kaufman and Company book.

[Denis Behr]

I also found that Derek Dingle's idea worked really well for me. I think it's in the Kaufman and Company book.

It is indeed.

[erdnasephile]

Bar.

And my nickname in high school was Faromer.

Mike's right, practice makes perfect. I also found that Derek Dingle's idea worked really well for me. I think it's in the Kaufman and Company book.

1+ Dingles idea, coupled with Michael's stuff really made consistent faros finally possible for me. I highly recommend both.

PS: There is one other great tip in the Dingle book that made a world of difference in my classic pass (it's the first tip about doing the 1st Riffle Pass in the book)

[Brian Marks]

I learned it from the Dingle book. Excellent book.

[GJohnson]

Revisiting this thread because of Cashmere Bouquet soap.

Has anyone discovered an alternative since Cashmere Bouquet has long been discontinued?

I’m interested in assembling a deck from Bob’s Bammo Gaffus Maximus.

[Tarotist]

I have always called it the Weave Shuffle rather than the Faro Shuffle. I have been doing it since I was a kid and I don't remember it being particularly difficult. I think I learned it from a children's magic book. I also use it for the Howard De Courcy one hand shuffle and it's spectacular variation the Notis Cascade.

Incidentally I strongly suspect I have done more weave (faro) shuffles than any magician in history. And with the poorest quality playing cards! Why? The svengali deck of course! In the old days I used svengali decks imported from Czechoslovakia of all places and they were already set in order so Faro shuffles were not necessary. However, when they ran out of production I had to make my own and later use imported decks from China. The Chinese ones did not come with the key cards alternated so I had to alternate the damn things myself and used the Faro shuffle to do it! And when I made my own I had to do the same thing!

Incidentally the best tip to get the shuffle to be "perfect" is to use a new deck of good quality.

[Bob Farmer]

In place of Cashmere Soap try finding the cheapest soap in a dollar store.

[GJohnson]

Any bar soap. Cheaper the better. Good to know. Thanks.

[PressureFan]

I wonder if tailors soap would work. Geno Munari said they used it to make bills slippery.

The Case of Madame Yu
viewtopic.php?t=35963

[Richard Kaufman]

I can't imagine why anyone would need to treat cards for a Faro Shuffle.

[Tarotist]

I can't imagine why anyone would need to treat cards for a Faro Shuffle.

You are truly psychic! That is just what I was thinking!

[GJohnson]

I can't imagine why anyone would need to treat cards for a Faro Shuffle.

My question was not specific to a faro shuffle.

My post was a sidebar, because a thread search returned Bob's comment here re: Cashmere Bouquet soap. It is specifically mentioned in Bammo Gaffus Maximus for treating a couple decks for smoother handling. Unrelated to a faro shuffle.

He graciously provided an answer.

Apologies for sending the topic sideways (12 years later).

[Ian Kendall]

imported decks from China. The Chinese ones did not come with the key cards alternated so I had to alternate the damn things myself and used the Faro shuffle to do it!

Ah, the Chinese Sven decks David Cronin sold them as well, so I have some experience with them. The fun bit is that the instructions tell you to do a perfect riffle shuffle, which is obviously not going to happen, so he built that into his pitch that you should alternate the cards manually. The ones he sold in Harrods were sealed, so he didn't want to do them all himself (but he started with a new deck each day).

[AJM]

I wonder if tailors soap would work. Geno Munari said they used it to make bills slippery.

The Case of Madame Yu
viewtopic.php?t=35963

Don’t panic folks, I’ve read the linked thread and can confirm that it is bills that are made slippery.

Just thought I would clarify in case anyone thought there was a typo in the post above…

Andrew

[Tarotist]

imported decks from China. The Chinese ones did not come with the key cards alternated so I had to alternate the damn things myself and used the Faro shuffle to do it!

Ah, the Chinese Sven decks David Cronin sold them as well, so I have some experience with them. The fun bit is that the instructions tell you to do a perfect riffle shuffle, which is obviously not going to happen, so he built that into his pitch that you should alternate the cards manually. The ones he sold in Harrods were sealed, so he didn't want to do them all himself (but he started with a new deck each day).

David was a very high class grafter working in a very high class location selling a very low class product! The Chinese cards were mediocre quality and I still sell them! He once sold a magic set to the Queen and was proud of it to the end of his days. He used to say, "Her Majesty said to me 'Mr Magic---you are wonderful!' and if the Queen of England says you are wonderful there is no better comment than that" I actually showed her husband a card trick once but alas he didn't say I was wonderful so David did much better than me!

David used to sell a non magic product that we in the business would call "the blink fake" which cleaned everything from eyeglasses to candlesticks. He used to sell it for a high price and I still remember one old grafter admirably saying to me "It is amazing David gets that type of money for a tub of soap!" which of course is all it really was!

[erdnasephile]

I can't imagine why anyone would need to treat cards for a Faro Shuffle.

Agreed--certainly in today's world. So many contemporary decks Faro perfectly right out of the box.