Anteater Consortium A Study in Aesthetics, Theory and Meaning
by Ben Train edited by James Alan cover design by Michael Kociolek & Tyler Wilson
ISBN: 978-0-9879672-2-0 © 2012 James Alan & Ben Train, All Rights Reserved
No part of his work may be reproduced without express written permission of the authors. Violators will be tarred and feathered on the Magic Café.
For Jeff Pinsky Who sold me the handcuffs but not the keys.
table of contents Foreword
1
Introduction
3
A Note From the Editor
4
Three Card Monte Burns
5
Training Wheels
11
And So It Begins
15
Detour on 51st Street
18
Segue
23
And so we come to The End
26
The Trinity Concept
28
Afterword
37
Acknowledgements
38
Foreword Ben Train is one of very few people in the entire world who can make my blood boil. Literally. Some of the things Ben says and some of the things Ben does drives me crazy to the point of exacting some form of physical and verbal abuse against and upon him. My own two children haven't even come close to the level of frustration that Ben has brought me to. Most of these incidents have been en route to magic lectures. You see Ben talked himself into being my wingman on a lecture tour I did along the east coast of the U.S. many years ago. Ben assured me that he would be a tremendous help in getting us to and from each engagement, in navigating and in selling product at the end of the lectures. When it came time to embark on the two week journey, I went to pick Ben up at his (parents’) house at the agreed upon time. I pulled into the driveway and gave the car horn a honk to let him know I was there. When no one came out, I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Ben's mom came to the door and asked who I was. (We hadn't been formally introduced.) I explained that I was Bill Abbott and that I was there to pick up Ben for the lecture tour. She had no idea what I was talking about. "BEN-ZI!" she yelled up a staircase, "When were you going to tell me you were going on a lecture tour?" Ben's voice came yelling back down the staircase, "Is Bill here Mom-zi?" Ben was just getting into the shower and hadn't packed for the trip yet. As he did these things I attempted to explain to his mom what a magic lecture was and where we were going to be during the two week tour. An hour and half later we were finally on the road towards the Peace Bridge at the Buffalo - Niagara border. About half way there I explained that I would be fine to drive for the first couple days and then could take a break for Ben to take a turn behind the wheel. Ben then dropped the bomb that he only had his learners’ permit and couldn't legally drive a vehicle after dark or out of the province.
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At least I had a full-time navigator, I thought. No dice. Ben spent most of his time in the car passed out earbuds stuck in his head, his mp3 blasting Wu Tang. I later concluded Ben needed close to 8 hours of sleep during the day and at least 10 hours of sleep at night to function at the energy level of a normal human when awake. His only excuse at the time was that he was a teenager. It became clear on that tour that Ben only really came alive with passion and intensity when talking magic performance and theory; in particular card magic performance and theory. As a serious student of Erdnase, Vernon and Marlo, Ben has very strong and well-informed opinions of magic and it's performance. During that tour and for the several that followed, we would argue, fight and scream back and forth about everything magic on the long drives between gigs. Even at a young age Ben demonstrated a maturity beyond his years when it came to the elusive blending of strong theoretical ideals and practical hard-hitting material in the real world of human (non-magician) audiences. The routines, methods and essays in these notes have been years in development. Thankfully I have been in attendance for most of those years. And I wouldn't have missed them for the world. Ben is a good Jew, a great friend and an awesome magician. Turn the page and enjoy some killer card magic. Bill Abbott Toronto February, 2012
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Introduction Writing a booklet, even one of this size, is a daunting task. Years of testing material, ruthlessly cutting away everything that wasn’t worth publishing, then editing, re-editing, and still further editing all the write-ups, have taken their toll. It’s been a fun process. Inside you’ll find a combination of strong material (for magicians and the ‘normal’ public), subtleties, finesses, essays, and a host of other goodies I hope will be of interest. Everything has been credited to the best of my ability and if any mistakes or omissions were made then I offer sincere apologies and the promise to rectify them if future editions are ever printed. Before you turn the page, a quick note about the structure of the book. Although I love curling up with a good magic text (Marlo’s Risqué Thimble Stunts is a personal favorite) or performing for the general public, nothing excited me more then sharing ideas with my fellow magicians. Since we obviously aren’t together right now, my intent was to capture the feeling of a “jam-session”. So besides tricks and essays there are also the occasional asides sprinkled through the text, and bonus ideas following each trick; all things we might talk about if we were having a face-to-face exchange. These ideas are now yours to play with, if you decide you want to. And if you do, and you come up with something cool, I hope you’ll contact me to share it. Because that’s what jamming is all about. Finally, a note about the title: It was brought to my attention that the title didn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with the contents. That’s where the “Anteater” part came from. As for the subtitle, I wanted to impress the ladies. (Please don’t tell my mom.) Enjoy the book, use the material, and don’t forget to wash your thimbles before every show. Ben Train Toronto March, 2012 3 | anteater consortium
A Note From the Editor It’s been tough. It is almost as difficult to describe one of Ben Train’s miracles as it is to describe Ben Train himself. You will find some of the technical descriptions densely packed with information and subtleties. And while some things require a light touch, if you follow the descriptions with cards in hand, you should find everything works for you on the very first attempt. On the other hand, you will find something missing from the descriptions. That certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi” is a wild and untamed zany energy and the courage to commit fully to eccentric presentations that would get most performers taken away to a mental institution. To paraphrase Howard Thurston, “The best trick in the world would lose nine-tenths of its effect unless accompanied by a fleeting glimpse into Ben’s profoundly messed up psyche.” If you have any doubt in your minds, turn the page and read the dialogue for “Three Card Monty Burns”. James Alan Toronto April, 2012
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Three Card Monte Burns The ace of spades is selected and replaced in the center of the pack. The two red queens are turned face-up and instantaneously the ace of spades appears between them. They then follow this amazing feat by locating its mate; the ace of clubs. Immediately after the sandwich cards change into the two red aces. Grab your Pack! This trick uses a small, 6 card set up: a four of a kind and two ‘sandwich’ cards. Since the selection is going to be forced, I ensure we’ll have a strong contrast between the four of a kind and the sandwich cards by using the two red queens, and the four aces. The setup from the top of the pack should be the ace of spades (selection), the two red queens (sandwich cards), the ace of hearts, the ace of clubs, the queen of diamonds, followed by the rest of the deck. The two red queens should be reversed face up. (Photo 1) This isn’t a card trick it’s a game. It’s sort of like Three Card Monte, except instead of you trying to find the card, I have to. Force the ace of spades on a spectator (you can force it on someone not spectating, but then things just get awkward). I use a dribble force, but with a slight modification. Rather than holding the break at the back with the thumb, as is the usual procedure, I hold an Erdnase break with the right hand’s fourth finger. This moves break to the front right corner where it is hidden by the right fingers, providing better cover and eliminating some of the angle issues the traditional handling has. Slip the ace about a third of the way down from the top of the deck, and maintain a break above it, using the flesh of your right hand’s fourth finger to hold a break on the outer right side of the pack. (Photo 2, break enlarged for clarity)
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Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Drop the cards from the right hand into the left and instruct the spectator to call stop (Photo 3). As you see their mouth begin to move, drop all the cards below the break into the left hand. The top card of the left hand is the ace, which you thumb off and hand to the spectator. As the card is noted get into “Tilt” position under the top two cards: Holding the pack with the index finger curled in front and the left thumb along the left side of the deck (not on top), the right thumb, lift up the inner end of the top two cards of the deck about half a centimeter (for American readers, a quarter of an inch). The index finger at the front serves as a pivot point so that from the front it still looks like the deck is completely square. Of course there is a large gap at the back of the deck and two wedge shaped spaces on either side. At first you will perform this setup with both hands, but with practice you will be able to maneuver the top card into position using only the left hand. The gap at the back doesn’t matter because no one can see it. The left thumb hides the separation on the left and you can angle the right side of the deck towards the floor so that anyone standing on ben train | 6
your right side is looking at the top of the deck and can’t see the side. Take back the queen in the right hand and hold it at the inner right corner. Now bring it behind the deck and slide it into the gap you’ve made at the back. Practice it in front of a mirror and you’ll see instantly how well it works. (Photo 4) Here’s how the game is played. Your card goes into the center of the pack. I take these two cards – the two red aces- and use them to find your card. If I miss, you get forty dollars... “in gift certificates... “for back rubs... “from Joshua Jay...” Push off the top two cards, the red queens, and display them to the audience. As you do so, use the queens to cover the outer left corner of the deck, which allows you to push over the top card and get a break beneath it without flashing of the face up ace underneath. Replace the aces face up on top retaining the break. Time to modify another sleight! We need to load the ace in between the two queens. With the right hand grasps all the cards above the break in overhand grip. Use your left thumb to contact the uppermost queen and drag it to the left, until it is off the right hand’s cards and flush on the deck. Place the two cards you’re holding in the right hand, held as one, on top of the deck. (Photo 5) This differs from the traditional sandwich load where the cards are removed from the pack and then peeled back onto it by the left thumb. This version wouldn’t work here since that would expose the first face up queen. I get three seconds to find your card. Tell me when to go. This is a fun and powerful first moment. Make the most of it. Snap your fingers and spread over the top two cards to show a face down 7 | anteater consortium
card in between. Pick up the top two cards with the right hand, palm up, and turn the hand palm down to display the selection. As you display the selection you’ll use the two cards in the right hand, like we did earlier, as cover to secure another break, this time beneath the top four cards. This is made easier because of the natural break. (Photo 6) But this was your first time playing. I’ll bet you double or nothing that I can’t find the mate; that’s the other black ace. Still holding two cards in your right hand, hand the selection to the spectator and use the queen to turn all the cards above the break face down. Don’t worry about hiding the thickness of this quadruple (four cards that are supposedly one) as the other queen helps mask the thickness. (Photo 7)
Photo 5
Photo 6
Photo 7 Snap your fingers and push the top three cards over to show a face up ace of clubs sandwiched between. In fact, let’s go for broke and find the last two aces.
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Fan off the top three cards (two face down cards believed to be the queens and the face up ace of clubs) and take them into the right hand. Hand the ace to another spectator (or the first one again if you can’t find more than one person to watch.) Make a magic gesture and turn over the two cards in the right hand to show they have changed into the final aces.
More Knowledge for your Noggin Using money as a hook for a routine is not a new idea. The problem with many contest-based presentations is that they are structured in such a way that the audience, consciously or unconsciously, is rooting for you fail. This routine is one of my attempts to solve the problem. Although the routine starts off with a typical challenge construction, is soon becomes clear that the prize is completely undesirable. It would actually be better for the audience if you, the magician, won. They win when you win. Isn’t that what we want? The reason Joshua Jay was made the victim of this terribly inappropriate shout-out is that this originally appeared in MAGIC Magazine (Talk About Tricks, June 2009), but titled “Kosher Monte” because he thought it was funny. Now who’s laughing, fool?
Credits The earliest published version of the sandwich plot that I’ve been able to find is Louis Christianer’s “The Obedient Card”, published in the January 1917 issue of The Magic Wand. The first to use the term ‘sandwich’ though, both in the trick title and as the premise for the routine, was Victor Farelli in his trick “The Sandwich”, published in 1934. Dai Vernon’s “Depth Illusion” (Pallbearer’s Review Close Up Folio #10) is better known as Ed Marlo’s “Tilt”, probably because it’s easier to pronounce. The “Erdnase Break” is an adaptation of the unusual break needed to separate the packets for the “S.W.E. Shift in the Legerdemain
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section of The Expert of the Card Table. Holding this break with the right hand is attributed to Dai Vernon. Max Maven has informed me though that Stephen Minch has found a much earlier citation, from Richard Neve’s The merry companion: or, delights for the ingenious published in 1716. In the book Neve describes a trick in which the performer “blows” any card in between two others. My biggest inspiration was Bill Goodwin’s wonderful routine “Hold the Mayo”, which can be found in Card College, Volume 4 (Roberto Giobbi, 2000). Finally, a big thank you to my friends Mike Kras and Scotty Johnson for pointing me to Ian Girdwood’s routine, “Girdwood meets St. Nicholas”, found in Peter Duffie’s 1997 collection, Effortless Card Magic. Although I was unaware of Ian’s routine when I developed mine, it’s still similar enough that it deserves a credit.
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Training Wheels Just what the world needs, another four-ace production. But this one has the distinction of not only looking great and being super versatile, but also being almost self working. It’s Go Time Before you begin, secure the four aces on top, with the second ace reversed. Ideally you’d have the aces in alternating colors, but this is only necessary if you’re neurotic like me. (Photo 8) “My mother taught me three things: how to cook, how to clean, and how to find the four aces from a shuffled deck of cards.”
Get a break below the top two aces and cut them to the bottom using a double undercut. Briefly, grab the deck with the right hand from above, in overhand grip, while maintaining the break with the right hand. Cut half the cards below the break and place them on top of the pack, still maintaining the break. Cut everything below the break and place them on top of the pack. You’re no longer holding a break because your job is done. The deck is face down in the left hand, with two aces on top of the deck, two on the bottom and the lower most ace secretly reversed. Things couldn’t be better. All I have to do is cut the pack... and I’ll find the first ace. I can find them one at a time... With the right hand, take the top card (an ace) and display it. Or all at once. Take the ace on top of the deck and insert it face-down into the center of the deck, leaving it outjogged for half its length. The right hand reaches beneath the deck and grabs the bottom card (a face 11 | anteater consortium
up ace) and several things happen at once. The right hand uses its card to flip the balance of the deck face up in the left hand. (Photo 9)
Photo 8
Photo 9
As the pack turns over, the left thumb contacts the top card and pushes it out to the left. (Photo 10) Finally the right hand withdraws its card and places it with the others. (Photo 11)
Photo 10
Photo 11
Some Things to Get you Thinking To add another layer of deception, begin with all four aces on top, with the second ace secretly reversed. You can begin by false shuffling the deck – overhand or riffle shuffles that retain the top stock. Then form a break beneath the top two cards and double undercut them to the bottom. Handled this way, the trick is a demonstration of skill showing your ability to locate a four of a kind. There are other applications thought. The first is that this production, with a little thought, can be used to introduce the gaffs for McDonald’s Aces. Since only one of the ben train | 12
aces’ backs is ever seen, you don’t even have to change much of the original handling to make it happen. Second, you can use this routine to hide the backs, or the faces of the cards, even both at the same time. This allows you to hide a stack, a one way forcing deck, or ring in a different deck for a color changing kicker. My favorite modification though is as follows. It uses the same set up as before, but place a four third from the top (between the four aces). “Let’s play a game. It’s called ‘high card wins’. It’s quite simple. We’ll both cut to a card and whoever has the higher value wins. Three rules. First, aces are the high. Second, if we tie, you win. And third if I win I get to keep your shoes.” Offer the deck to the spectator to cut, which you complete. Turn over the top card and remark accordingly. If it’s a high card I accuse them of being a hustler. If it’s a middle valued card, like a six or an eight, I mention that it’s still tough to beat. If it’s a low card I mock them. Because they deserve it. This next part makes me smile. Cut the deck at the natural break so that the face-up ace ends up on the bottom. This happens almost naturally since the reversed cards acts like a breather, or tactile, key card. Show the top card, a four. “Did I mention fours were wild? Because they are! It’s like cutting to all the aces at once! Not going to buy that eh? Then I’ll have to change the four...” As you say this secure a break under the top card of the pack (an ace). Place the four face-up on top of the back retaining the break beneath two cards. Pick up both cards, by gripping them at their outer left corner and insert the double into the pack, leaving it outjogged for half its length. Now perform the Training wheels action and the four aces will appear in place of the odd card. To clean up, simply pull the odd card flush with the pack with the left index finger as the right hand removes the outjogged ace. 13 | anteater consortium
Afterthoughts This final variation has become my favourite for a variety of reasons. First I think it’s a more complete routine, instead of a brief flourish. It can be played up as either confrontational or funny depending on your preference. And it’s much more deceptive, since the cut makes the spectator appear to be involved, to a minor extent, in the mixing of the cards. Finally it looks better. Not only is there a startling change of the four into the four aces, but it eliminates the problem the other version had, mainly it’s now a true four-of-a-kind production, rather than a production of a single card and its three mates. Aesthetically I find that more appealing. I came up with this production more than a decade ago as a way to replicate some of the productions the better, older magicians were doing around me. Ten years later most of them have quit magic and I’m still doing this. Make of that what you will.
Shout-Outs The premise for cutting to the aces as a magical routine is surprisingly recent, and is credited to Dai Vernon. Bart Whaley suggests Vernon invented the plot in 1941, and it was later published in the Stars of Magic series (Series 2, 1946) as “Cutting the Aces”. Although I’m not inclined to consider this a true cuttingto-the-aces, I’m also not sure where else it would fit. If we decide to create a separate subset for ace production no doubt it would go there, but I’m not sure anyone has yet. (If you decide to do it, let me know.) The Double Undercut has also been attributed to Dai Vernon with a more detailed description of the move in Jerry Mentzer’s Counts, Cuts, Moves, and Subtlety, published in 1977. Finally, the clean up I used to hide the double, by pushing it flush into the deck as I remove the ace, is reminiscent of August Roterberg’s “Push In Change”, from New Era Card Tricks (1897). If you haven’t read it yet, stop what you’re doing, put on pants, and run out and buy a copy. It’s fantastic. ben train | 14
And So It Begins “Every trick begins with the telling of a story. Then it becomes a story.” When I was about eighteen years old my friends and mentor Bill Abbott hired me as the entertainment for one of his house parties. As I performed Bill followed me around the room and gave me critical feedback and advice about my work. Even today, one example stands out more clearly than the others. I had approached a group of about five people and asked a woman if she played poker. She didn’t. I assured her that this wasn’t a problem, and quickly explained the rules of the game to her, as well as what a poker face was- the premise for the routine. As soon as I had finished Bill pulled me aside. If she’s forty-four years old and hasn’t bothered to learn the rules of the game yet, he pointed out, than she obviously wasn’t interested. Why then was I boring her with something she didn’t care about? I didn’t know. A great presentation generates interest by answering the unasked question of why they should care. If your presentation doesn’t provide an answer, or worse, indicates that they shouldn’t, it will be hard to get their attention and keep it… let alone develop any sort of emotional connection. All the routines in this book have two things in common. First, the presentations involve subject matter I’m interested in. You’ll notice, for example, that several routines in this book use ‘gaming’ as a presentational ploy. This isn’t coincidental. I love all things gambling, and for many years all my material had a gambling bend. Training Wheels was my first (good) attempt at an ace-cutting. Detour on 51st Street is a demonstration on shuffling tracking, something I’ve researched and practiced for real. I develop material that utilizes gambling themes because I actually like the subject of gambling. Subsequently, when you choose material to show an audience, since you’re in a position to communicate with them, talk about things you actually care about. 15 | anteater consortium
A second thing I’ve tried to do with all the presentations in this book is use them to relay the things I care about to my audience in such a way that they will also find them interesting. Card games and gambling aren’t just things I like, they’re things other people can, and often do, find interesting as well. Almost everyone plays cards, and being able to consistently win at cards represents a form of wish fulfillment for some. I say some because if someone isn’t interested in playing cards, like the woman I encountered at Bill’s party, then a gambling presentation may not answer the question of why she should care. Certain routines, like Detour, I don’t show to audiences unless they’ve already expressed an interest in gaming. We acknowledge their interest by showing them something that addresses their question… and more- by showing how it’s not only possible to win at cards, but to win under even more stringent conditions then they thought possible. Regardless of what type of magic you perform, if you can’t make people care than you’re going to fail. People often lament that laypeople don’t enjoy card tricks. What they mean is that people don’t like card tricks if they aren’t given a reason to care. Why should they pick a card only to watch you lose it in the pack? Why should they care that you find it? What they want to know is something everyone wants to know about most things in life- what’s in it for them and why they should care. Finally, think carefully about the premises you use to try and generate interest, and pay close attention to the reactions they get. Sometimes an idea that titillates us can be disastrous in actual performance. I have a friend, a very fine magician, who used to open with a beautifully structured Ambitious Card sequence. Approaching the table he would inform them that union rules state that all magicians have to do at least one card trick, and he suggested they do that now so they could get it out of the way. Humorous, no? Well one group looked him in the face and said they didn’t want their time wasted, and suggested that they should forget the card trick and get on with the good stuff. They promised not to tell the union. ben train | 16
Not only did he fail in generating interest in the trick, but he created a situation where they became emotionally invested in NOT seeing the trick! This, I doubt, was what he had intended. So pay attention to how you script your magic or else you just might end up teaching card games to disinterested audience members. And no one wants that.
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Detour on 51st Street A demonstration o the possibilities of someone cheating without having to touch the deck. At least it looks that way. One thing’s for sure- no one will want to play cards with you afterwords. Let’s Get Ready to Rumble This trick contains a Faro shuffle, so you will need a deck in relatively good condition. The only other preparation necessary is to remove one of the cards from the deck and to have the two jokers handy. If you are using your own deck this is remarkably easy to do. If you are borrowing a deck, you can remove a card secretly by palming or lapping it. Or if you are a soul-less bastard, you can precede this trick with your favourite routine that uses the Mercury Card Fold. (They’ll be especially impressed if you do it with one of their collectible Dan and Dave decks). “There’s a common misconception that if you don’t touch the cards, you can’t cheat. Not true.” Ask a spectator to shuffle the deck and then deals five hands of poker onto the table (five cards in each hand). For example there is a technique called shuffle tracking. The idea is this: if you know where a card is before a shuffle, you can follow where it goes and predict where it’ll end up. It’s a huge advantage. When the spectator has finished dealing, you’ll have five packets in front of you. For explanation purposes we’ll number them one through five. (Photo 12) Pick up packet 1, the packet on your right, and turn it face up. Let’s suppose you wanted to keep track of the four of spades, because you needed it to make up a straight. Well, you see where it starts and you would follow where it goes during the shuffle. ben train | 18
Indicate the card that is fourth from the face. Whatever card it is, indicate that it is somehow valuable and then place the packet, without changing its order, back face down. (Photo 13)
Photo 12
Photo 13
Photo 14
Photo 15
Now pick up the hand furthest to your left, packet number five, and display it. Here you indicate the card second from the face, describing how you might want to follow it to make up a full house, then also place it back down without changing its order. (Photo 14) But it’s not enough to know where cards are in the various hands, or where they go when the cards are reassembled. You need to be able to track where they go as the cards are shuffled and cut. Now I don’t want you to think that because I’ve seen the cards that’ll somehow help me. Peek the top card of the deck, so only you know what it is, and remember it. As the spectator is peeking the top card of the talon, reassemble the packets in numerical order; one goes on top of two, those go on top of three, and so forth. Drop all these cards on top of the reminder of the pack, burying the spectator’s selection inside the center. 19 | anteater consortium
You now know that the spectator’s selection is twenty-six from the top which makes lots of interesting things possible. However the time delay from the dealing and the (apparently) haphazard way in which you reassemble the cards makes it appear that the card is at a random position in the pack. The audience should also be too fascinated listening to your description of shuffle tracking to be thinking of such details. They may also be distracted by the fact that I usually perform this routine without wearing pants. Now all that shuffling and mixing was to keep me honest. But to keep you honest we’ll use these two jokers like ‘cut cards’. You can place them on top or on the bottom of the pack; it’s up to you. Now cut the deck. Instruct the spectator to cut the deck a few times. As he does watch the deck intently, as if you were actually trying to follow the location of the card. Let him do this as many times as he’d like (we get paid by the hour, so let them go crazy). While you were mixing the cards I was trying to do three things: The first was I was trying to figure out where your card started. The second was I was trying to figure out where it would end up. And the third was that I was following the jokers so I could use them as targets. Pick up the deck and perform a straddle faro, cutting twenty-six cards and weaving the packets so that the top card remains on top and the twenty-sixth card goes to the bottom. It does not matter which half the twenty-sixth card goes into. (Photo 15) Ribbon spread the deck on the table. (Photo 16) One card shuffled in between them.
Because of the missing fifty-second card and the straddle faro the selection is now sandwiched in between the two jokers. Now it’s easy to follow where cards go with shuffle tracking if you know where they begin. For instance, if I wanted the three of clubs for my full house I know it’s right here. The second card noted, the three of clubs will be the third card above the sandwich cards. Remove it and reveal it. (Photo 17) ben train | 20
Or if I wanted the four of spades to complete my straight, I would know it was right here. Remove the card fourth card below the sandwich cards and reveal it to be the second noted card, the four of spades. (Photo 18). But we weren’t trying to keep track of those cards, we were trying to find one card that only you know. For the first time what was the name of your card? Push all the cards above and below the jokers to the side, creating a beautiful image. Slowly reveal the card. (Photo 19) Congratulations, no one will ever trust you with a deck of cards again.
Photo 16
Photo 17
Photo 18
Photo 19 (In slow motion)
In case you care Many have explored the consequences of faro shuffles with cards at the twenty-sixth position including Karl Fulves, Alex Elmsley and 21 | anteater consortium
Ed Marlo. This particular application with fifty-one cards evolved from a trick shown to me by Howard Hamburg. It is possible to work the trick with a complete deck of fifty-two cards (fifty-four with the jokers) but you need to know is which half the jokers end up in and in-faro that half. But the handling with fifty-one cards is superior for me, because then I don’t have to follow anything and I can concentrate on interacting with the audience. A few people helped me with the construction of the routine, and they deserve to be acknowledged. My friend James Alan suggested the idea to have poker hands dealt out, which would automatically place the selection at the twenty-sixth position. He’s a clever cookie. He also pointed out that rather than using the cards in the second and fourth positions at the beginning of the trick, we could instead identify the highest, most memorable cards in the group and position those where we wanted them. Additional thanks go to Joshua Jay, who originally pointed out that I could locate the extra cards after the shuffle, and Asi Wind, who suggested the ploy of having the spectators decide on whether the jokers go on top, bottom, or even separated on top and bottom. While it might seem obvious to us that this doesn’t make a difference, any elements of freedom and choice we provide our spectators with makes our work seem more impressive. This trick was originally printed in Josh Jay’s one man column in the September, 2011 issue of Magic Magazine. If you want to see pictures of what his manly hands look like doing it, you can find them there.
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Segue After a card has been looked at, say the four of hearts, the deck is shuffled face-up into face down. When the cards are spread it is a total mess of face up, face down, red and black cards. The magician shouts the magic word (Jumanji!) and when the pack is re-spread all the red cards have turned face down so that the four of hearts is the only red card in amongst the face up black cards. On your Mark, Get Set, Go To set up, separate the red cards from the black cards. Now take a selection of six black cards – a mixture of high and low clubs and spades – and spread then evenly in between the red cards. Place the black cards on top of the red cards. If you spread the deck face up in front of you, about half the deck consists of only black cards, and the other side appears at a casual glance to be a mixture of reds and blacks. Finally, remove one red card – the card you will force – and place it on top of the deck. I prefer a low value red card for clarity. (Photo 20) “We’ve known each other long enough, and I feel safe in telling you: I have a super power. I can make the red cards separate from the black cards. That’s why I’m here doing card tricks and not out fighting crime.” To perform, you need to force the top card and then have it returned into the stock of black cards on top. The most effective way to do this is the dribble forcing procedure described in “Three Card Monte Burns”. After the force, the rest of the cards are dropped on top and the selection is left, uncontrolled, in the center of the deck about one third of the way from the top. “I can afford to be fair – after all... I’m a superhero.” 23 | anteater consortium
Photo 20
Photo 21
Photo 22
Photo 23
Cut about twenty cards from the top of the deck in preparation for a tabled riffle shuffle. Be sure not to cut so deep that you run into the red cards. Turn that remaining lower half face up and shuffle the two packets together. It’s imperative that you begin the shuffle with at least one face up card, and end with a face down card on top. (Photo 21) Spread the cards face up on the table to show a genuine mix of face up and face down cards. Point out that there are red cards and black cards, clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades, as well as high and low cards. This emphasizes the mixed state of the red and black cards without having to belabour the fact. Now comes the only other move in the routine. You will perform a “flop”, a gambling technique used to cheat at blackjack. Don’t worry, it’s easy. Insert your left fingers under the bottom card of the spread. At the same time, the right hand moves towards the right side of the spread in preparation to square the cards. (Photo 22) I don’t want to know what your card is, I just want to know the color. Was it a red card or black card?” ben train | 24
Your left hand scoops the cards up as it closes the spread. The right hand facilitates this. With the cards now squared, the left hand turns palm down and reverses the pack as it places it on the table. (Photo 23) Since both the top and bottom of the deck have the back of a card showing, due to the shuffle procedure we used earlier, the audience won’t be aware that the deck has been turned over. Even still, a little cover never hurts, which is what the question provides. A red card? Ok. All I have to do is squeeze the pack, and when I do every red card turns over... Slowly begin spreading the pack, from left to right. The spectator will see that only black cards are face up. ...every red card except the four of hearts! And it’s true.
Behind the Curtain Many will notice the similarities with Theodore Deland’s “Inverto”, remarketed as U.F. Grant’s “Cheek to Cheek” and ripped off and resold without credit countless times since. Similar applications that incorporate red and black cards have been published by Harry Lorayne and Doug Edwards, and it is with their gracious permission and blessings that I share my version with you. Using a small number of black cards interspersed with the reds to convey a genuinely mixed conditions was developed independently by David Acer and Jeff Hinchliffe for use in “Oil and Water” routines, though both agree that something so obvious must be much older than that. Finally, I want to thank Mike Powers for publishing this routine, as “Training Sessions” (despite asking him not to make a pun involving my last name!), in his Linking Ring column. Mike made a few changes, including publishing an in-the-hands version, which you may want to look at. 25 | anteater consortium
And so we come to The End “Think a little before you start. It takes ten times as long to accomplish something if you don’t do a little planning before you start it." - Dai Vernon A well structured routine needs more than just good technique. It needs focus and clarity. A trick without focus is a bad one; not because the performer doesn’t know how to get where he wants, but often because he doesn’t even know where he wants to go. A good trick has a clear focus, taking the audience from a starting point to its inevitable conclusion. Anything that doesn’t get the audience there, or might sidetrack them, should be eliminated. Without focusing on what you want the end result of a routine to be you run the risk of having the trick end up a confusing cluttered mess. Anything that doesn’t add to a routine, by developing the story and contributing to the progression of the trick, detracts from it. It’s as simple as that. Ok, maybe it’s not that simple. Let’s use an example. How many phases should my Ambitious Card Routine be? Despite what some pundits have suggested, I don’t think this a stupid question. It’s also not, as some askers have hoped, a question to which there is a simple answer. When someone decides to run a race they have a clear objective in mind, generally to run the requisite distance in a specific amount of time. We would never ask someone why they chose to run 5km, as opposed to 6, in a 5km race, because no one would run 6km for a 5km race- it would be both unnecessary and unproductive in terms of accomplishing the goal. Likewise, someone who only managed to run 4 km would fall short; both of the finish line and their goal. To accomplish the end goal, a runner need run the specific distance. No more and no less. ben train | 26
Supposing your ambitious card routine is a demonstration of some power or phenomenon (as most are), then the simplest, or easiest, end goal would be convincing an audience that what you claim is happening really is happening. In this example, the number of phases you would use would be exactly the number of phases need to convince them. No more, no less. In some performance situations this might require several phases, after all, you have to convince them that the selection is really placed in the center, that nothing is done to manipulate the cards (unless that’s the premise), that the card is really back on top, and so forth, but it might also only take one. I’ve seen the master Juan Tamariz perform an ambitious card routine with a single phase and another time one with more than a dozen. He used two different structures, with two different lengths, to meet different objectives. Obviously when constructing a good routine the number of phases isn’t our lone consideration. Presentational considerations, methodological ones, and a myriad of other factors play a part in achieving the end results we want. The point is this; by first determining what we want our end goals to be, we will be in a better position to figure out how to go about achieving them. Like the man says, think a little before you start. You’ll save a lot of time.
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The Trinity Concept A shuffled deck is placed in front of a group of spectators and they each cut, note a card, then return their packets to the deck. Despite these incredibly fair conditions the magician (that’s you) can find all three cards without asking any questions or using any sleight of hand. The impact of an effect is related to how impressive the revelation is relative to the amount of procedure required to get there. (Or so my editor, James, tells me.) As an example, the dreaded “TwentyOne Card Trick” has a very strong effect: someone has a free selection to just think of any card and you find it without any sleights. However it doesn’t have a tremendous impact because there is so much procedure that takes up time in the middle (in this case collecting piles and dealing through the entire packet three times). The Trinity Concept offers such a strong impact because three people think of a card (actually cut and look at them) and you find all three with less action than a single key card placement. Whenever I see something being offered as a ‘concept’, my intuition (or experience) tells me that what’s being offered is something untested and not fully realized. This isn’t the case here. I’ve been performing routines using the Trinity Concept for half a decade, and am still staggered by how versatile it is. I have applied it to everything from gambling demonstrations, impossible locations, feats of mentalism, and routines about the power of vegetables (really). What makes it such a powerful tool is that everything seems to happen outside of the magician’s control, and yet procedurally everything is still straightforward and fair. That means… gasp… no apparent trade off!
The Selection process The trick is entirely self-working, however it does have some risks; all of which are easily avoided by giving your instructions carefully. ben train | 28
It also does not require a table, which makes it practical for just about any circumstance. To set up, gather the thirteen hearts in any order at the face of the deck. Then place five indifferent cards in front of them. This means that your stock of hearts will be very close to, but not all the way at, the bottom of the deck when you hold the cards face down. Finally, remember the top card of the pack as a key card. Suppose it is the ace of spades. (Photo 24) Choose three people to assist you. When working with these people always work in order from left to right. Not only will this make it more difficult to accidentally mess something up, it allows for an extra layer of deception later on. With the deck in dealing position, ask the first person, the one on the left, to cut off some cards and note the card at the face of their packet. We’ll label these cards ‘Packet A’. Ask the second person, the one in the middle, to do the same thing. He gets ‘Packet B’. Finally have the third person, the one on the right, repeat the cutting procedure, but you’ll need them to cut into the heart stock near the bottom of the deck. Generally this will happen automatically. If for some reason they cut a little light though, and you’re worried they might have missed cutting into your slug, then simply instruct him that you want to use as many cards for this experiment as possible, and that he should cut off a few more. We’ll call this group of cards ‘Packet Anteater’. Ok, that’s stupid. We’ll stick with ‘Packet C’. (Photo 25) Once all three people have remembered their cards, have them replace their portions in the same order they cut them off. This means Packet A is replaced first, followed by Packet B, and packet C is placed on top.
Identifying the Cards After a suitable time delay, ideally accompanied by some scintillating presentation and heartwarming moments with your audience, you’re ready to locate the selections. 29 | anteater consortium
Pick up the deck and begin spreading through, from left to right, with the faces towards yourself. Spread through until you see the first group of hearts. The first card to follow this group, that is, the first non-heart, is the first selection. In this case it’s the jack of clubs. (Photo 26) Continue spreading until you spot your key card, the ace of spades. The card immediately below it is the second selection. Here it’s the queen of diamonds. (Photo 27) Finally, continue spreading until you reach the second block of heart cards. The first heart you reach is the third and final selection, in this instance the eight of hearts. (Photo 28)
Photo 24
Photo 25
Photo 26
Photo 27
Photo 28
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Why This Works The full situation is shown in Photo 29. As long as the third spectator cuts into the heart slug, the following happens automatically: Packet A, with the first spectator’s card, goes directly on top of the remaining heart cards. Packet B goes directly on top of packet A, which as you might remember contains the original top card of the pack- our key card. Spectator two’s card is now directly on above the key card. Finally, since spectator three cut into the heart cards, we know that their card is both a heart, and the lower most heart card (if we’re holding the deck face down) in the upper half of the deck.
Choose your own Super Power The nature of the effect is so straightforward, it lends itself to many different possible presentations. The most obvious are mindreading, or a reading based on body language and tells. However, to the skilled bullshit artist, there is no limit to the number of ways in which you can reveal the identities of the cards. Speaking of which...
The Resourceful Bullshit Artist Failing to improve the method, changes the moment. On issue with the structure of this routine is that you must look through the cards to locate each selection. This is not an insurmountable obstacle, and there are certainly ways around it. The cards can be marked or crimped to allow you to identify the cards cut to without looking at the faces but those are, as a friend might say, “inelegant solutions”. However, since we know that spectator number three has chosen a heart, we can actually begin divining her card without having to look through the deck. First you name the color (red), then you name the suit (heart). This is a powerful moment: they cut wherever they wanted, and yet, without any fishing or having to touch the pack you’re able to begin revealing their card. 31 | anteater consortium
Ask them to concentrate on the value, then after a moment proclaim that you have it. Since you’ve already established that you were able to determine both the color and the suit correctly, it’s plausible that you could do the same thing with the value. The implication is that you know which card they’ve selected before you begin running through the pack. You’re now in a wonderful position to get very far ahead. As you run through the pack to remove the third spectator’s card you also note and remember the other two selections. Now we’ll be able to repeat the effect but with all the information we need, and we never have to return to the pack again.
Other possibilities If you are particularly concerned about being able to spread all cards to show a well shuffled deck, you can arrange a more elaborate slug than just the thirteen hearts. For example you can use the even spades and odd hearts, or the twos, nines and kings. However, in practice it is far more valuable to be able to scan through and locate the chosen cards as quickly as possible, so it’s better to ere on the side of simplicity. The choice is yours though. Another strategy you can explore involves the various ways, and times, in which the cards can be shuffled. It’s possible to begin your performance by shuffling the cards, as long as you’re conscious not to disturb the bottom third of the deck. In addition, you can have the second packet, Packet B, shuffled before a card is noted, since that packet contains no special order of cards. As you play with the Trinity Concept you’ll find additional moments to further convince an audience that the cards are truly shuffled and mixed before, during, and after the selections. Finally, there are many other groupings of cards you can use, beside just an unordered suit, that will accomplish other things. If you have your slug in numerical order, for instance, then you can have spectator three cut some cards and not return them to the pack, yet you’ll know which card they have (it’s the next card in the numerical sequence). You can also use pseudo-mates, like the two red twos, which provide you with some of the same advantages that ben train | 32
a Mene Tekel deck does. The more you play with the concept the more interesting features you’ll find.
Obscured by Ose The cutting and replacement sequence is exactly the opposite of the Jay Ose three packet false cut. If you don’t belabour the procedure, many will believe that three people cut to cards and replaced them without changing the order of the entire pack. Once someone has established that false memory, he will have no chance of reconstructing the method whatsoever.
Worst Case Scenario The only time you’ll run into a problem is if the third spectator misses the slug by cutting either too few cards or cutting too many. If the spectator cuts too many cards, and cuts past the heart stock (or whatever stock you’re using), it’s not a problem. Simply spread the cards remaining in your left hand and note how many you have. It won’t be more then five. Assuming you had, say, three cards left, then you know spectator one’s card is fourth from the face, spectator two’s card is still directly above the key card, and spectator three’s card is going to be two cards before the first heart card of the second block (because they cut all the hearts plus two additional cards). If the third spectator cuts too few cards, and some gentle prompting won’t convince them to cut a few more, then there is still one more option. It’s not as strong as the normal procedure, but it’s comforting to know that no matter what happens you’ll always finish by being able to reveal all three selections. After all three packets have been returned, and knowing that the third spectator did not cut into the heart slug, turn to the first spectator and ask them to think of their card. After a little by play run through the deck and remove the second spectator’s card, the one directly after our key card. Place this face down onto the table without showing its face and ask the first spectator to name their card. Smile confidently. 33 | anteater consortium
Turn to spectator number two and ask them to think of their card. Concentrate on them, but feign difficulty. Explain that for some reason you’re having trouble with their card, and that you’ll come back to them in a moment (although this is a methodological necessity, it’s also theatrically interesting). Turn to spectator three and ask them to think of their card and instantly smile confidently. Run through the pack and remove the first spectator’s card, the one they think is already on the table, and place it face down on top of the first card without showing it’s face. Ask the third spectator to name their card, and once again smile confidently when they do. Turn back to spectator number two and explain that you’re having difficulty finding their card. Tell them not to react, then begin naming the card values out loud, ace through king, as you watch them. Do the same with the four suits. Act slightly unsure as you pick up the deck and look for the card spectator three just named. Place this on top of the other two selections without showing its face. Pick up the three cards and do a very simple false count. Push a double off into the left hand, then put the single card into the left hand as you steal back the bottom card into the right hand. Finally place this card on top of the two in the left hand. Explain that you got the first two, and matching actions to the words turn over the top card and place it in front of spectator one and the second card, face up, in front of spectator three, but that you aren’t sure about spectator two’s card. Ask, for the first time, what the card is. Pause, then show that you found it. How cool is that?
Before You Go I discovered the Trinity Concept while tinkering with Sam Schwartz’s routine, “Thot Echo”, first published in The Pallbearers Review, Vol. 9, No. 5, March 1974. Sam’s routine required a more elaborate set up and only allowed the performer to find two selections, but it was still a vast improvement in comparison to other methods that accomplished similar things.
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The Jay Ose Cut first appeared in Harry Lorayne’s Close Up Card Magic in 1962. (For the record, it’s a lousy cut: it doesn’t change the order of the cards.) Although I’d like to claim credit for the one-ahead principle it actually dates back at least as far as 1593 where it was published in Horatio Glasso’s Giochi Di Carte Bellissimi Di Regola E Di Memoria. While I’m sure you have a copy of this in your library, for the few of you that don’t, you can find an English translation in the Summer 2007 issue of Gibecière, available through the Conjuring Arts Research Center. A huge thank you to all my regular ‘sessioning’ buddies, who had to sit through years of listening to me talk about the Trinity Concept, and what must have felt like an eternity watching me perform my countless variations. I wish I could tell that I’m now done with the idea… But I’m not. See you Saturday!
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Afterword If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
-Sir Isaac Newton
I’m not a giant (5’9” in heels), but you can still see pretty far if you stand on my shoulders. Just don’t mess up my hair! Magic moves forward when we share ideas and collaborate. It doesn’t matter whether the exchange is face to face or through books, magazines, videos, and now downloads. If this project helps to spark new and interesting ideas for you, then it has served its purpose. I would love to hear about any developments you make. You can always find me in at a convention somewhere, at home in Toronto or out on the interwebs. So come jam with me sometime.
Ben Train
[email protected]
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Acknowledgements
Some Thank Yous are in Order I couldn’t have finished, or even started, this book without the help and guidance of some wonderful friends. Here they are, in alphabetical order. Even you’re on there!
Bill Abbott, James Alan, Lee Asher, Tony Chang, Shane Cobalt, Grace Coyle, Mike Feldman, James Fullford, James and Lynn Harrison, Jeff Hinchliffe, The Hymans, Joshua Jay, Michael Kociolek, Chris Mayhew, Meyer Mechanic, Mark Moss, Jeff Pinsky, Mike Powers, Mike and Jen Segal, The Shorsers, Jackie Sy, Barry Tabacznik, Brett Taylor, The Trains, Maria Vasilodimitrakis, Glenn West, Chris Westfall, Tyler Wilson, Asi Wind, You, The Zatzmans, and a special thank you to my loving family: Leslie, Shayne, Ahron, Golda and Faygle. Without you all, I would not be what I am to day... ... frustrated.
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