Many years ago I bought and fell in love with a trick called Club Sandwich by Andrew Normansell. It was marketed by Mark Mason and JB Magic and relied upon a single gaffed card. If you didn’t have the gaff, then you were out of luck and couldn’t perform it. I always carried it around in the cello of my tuck case, but even then, you couldn’t perform the trick impromptu with a deck that someone handed you. In a nutshell, the trick went as follows: The spectator picks two cards (or two spectator’s each pick one card). The cards are lost back in the deck and two Jokers are added on top of the deck (yes only two cards). With the snap of a finger, the first of the chosen cards jumps immediately between the two Jokers at the top of the deck. Truly impossible. Then the first if the chosen card is placed anywhere in the deck by the spectator and once again that card jumps to the top of the deck between the two Jokers. The first chosen card and the two Jokers are placed aside and when the deck is spread to find the second chosen card, it is not in the deck! Then, the first chosen card is found in the spread! Which makes you immediately turn to look at the two Jokers and inexplicably, the second chosen card is between the two Jokers.
It is a great trick, but the cards cannot be handed out because the gaff will be discovered immediately. Yes, some of us prefer to avoid gaffs and certainly the purists won’t touch any trick with a gaff. Enter CLUB FIX! Perform this awesome trick using a normal deck and some basic sleight of hand chops. Wonderful, fantastic and so creative.
I want to say that I absolutely love what J. Jack did in approaching Club Sandwich, breaking it down and presenting several alternatives and presentations without using any gaffed cards (and using blank faced cards). The Club Fix 1-3 book is a study and analysis of the trick. I personally think the thinking behind this book is fantastic. I am always drawn to magic writing that delves into one issue with several alternatives. We have all seen it with Out of This World, but in the case of Club Sandwich, this seems to be the definitive work on how to present the routine without a gaff with variations.
J.Jack appropriately credits the original creator and other magicians whose moves and routines are used or provide influence such as Brother John Hamman, Richard Kaufman, Larry Jennings, Aldo Colombini, Peter Duffie, John Bannon, Virgil McDonagh (from a trick published in Apocalypse – miss you Harry!) and Karl Fulves
Before getting into the tricks, the book explains various moves for beginners. Although I do not think these routines are suited for a beginner, it provides the pathway to performing these tricks by explaining some card fundamentals with very direct explanations of standard moves and card handling such as holding a break, the overhand shuffle, the jog shuffle, the hindu shuffle, the double lift, double undercut, Erdnase change, Braue reversal and even how to do a ribbon spread. I would say that if you don’t know a majority of the moves listed above, you are early in your life in magic and in some time you will be ready to pick up this book. The book contains many photographs, but they are very gray and provide poor contrast. This is perhaps my biggest criticism of this book. Other than that, this small paperback is well organized, with good quality paper and well written. When you are learning these routines, you will need to have deck in hand as you follow along. It will be worth it, trust me.
If you are interested in picking up this book, you can go to Jack’s website,
www.shufflethedeck.weebly.com. Jack sent me this $25 book as a courtesy and although it took me a very long time to read, learn, practice and finalize this review, I am very pleased with this book.
As explained in the website description, the book is a 6 inch by 9 inch paperback book with 63 pages. Club Fix 1 – 3 is a printing of 3 prior ebooks with the added instruction at the beginning of the book.
This book provides great instruction for these great sandwich routines. If you are looking for a sandwich routine which starts and ends clean, I highly recommend checking out the Club Fix.
