I really love easy to do cards tricks that make you seem like a master magician. Don’t get me wrong, I also love sleight of hand, but sometimes less is more. Cameron Francis has put together a great compilation of card tricks with an ordinary deck of card.
For $25 you get a DVD with 11 tricks performed and taught by Francis in the Big Blind Media red room with various members of the BBM crew as spectators. Liam Montier pops in for a few tricks and Francis excellently performs and teaches every trick.
Some of the tricks are borrowed shuffled deck tricks and some need a bit of a set up. For instance, the Seven Of Hearts trick is an awesome borrowed shuffled trick, but the Automatic Poker Triumph is an amazing trick that will require a 5 card set up. It is easy enough to set up the trick while you are jazzing around and no one will be the wiser. Three impossible things is totally amazing and has the makings of a magician fooler, but it required an involved setup that you will not be able to do on the fly. No problem, it’s a good opener! The tricks are generally described below in the ad copy from the promotional materials. Exhausted is Francis version of The Tantalizer. It is a half deck version and there are three versions of this trick with different endings. I liked the Exhausted Mates version because although it requires a set up, it is easy enough to do on the fly.
What Francis does really well is take a prior version of a routine and improve it. He presents more direct versions that are easier to perform. The tricks also do not require sleight of hand so if that is what you are looking for, grab this baby! Well done CF!
The ad copy states:
“The bestselling Ultimate Self Working Card Trick series is the gold standard for sleight-free card tricks… magic that slays audiences and yet requires NO moves to accomplish. The emphasis here is on providing you with KILLER tricks that you just need to concentrate on presenting!
And in this latest installment of the smash hit series renowned pasteboard practitioner Cameron Francis is unleashing his own all-time top 10 (except there is 11!) self-working card tricks. These stellar routines are plucked from Cameron’s own extensive repertoire and are pure, unadulterated awesome. Every one of the eleven routines are a beautifully constructed slab of cleverness where Cameron has substituted difficult sleight of hand with ingenious (and sneaky) methods. You’ll even fool magicians with lots of this stuff!
Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks: Cameron Francis Edition. Literally NO sleight of hand needed. Get ready to rock!!
Seven of Hearts Trick – A supremely fooling “magician in trouble” effect!
Automatic Poker Triumph – A quirky poker demonstration that’ll knock your spectator’s brains out of their noggins!
Three Impossible Things – Mind reading, clairvoyance and a prediction all packed into one sizzling hot card effect.
Divided – A completely impromptu, impossibly fair revelation of two selections and a full deck color separation that will leave them gasping for air.
Blackjack Buffet – Poker Player’s Picnic from “Royal Road” on steroids!
Counter Intuitive – A magician fooler of an effect where the spectator finds their own card under the most impossible of conditions.
Exhausted – The Tantalizer retooled and re-engineered for maximum efficiency and impact.
Exhausted Aces – Another “Tantalizer” effect with a, (you guessed it), four Ace ending.
Exhausted Mates – More “Tantalizing” madness, this one twisted into an amazing coincidence effect with a killer kicker ending.
Fired Up Triumph – A Triumph effect that looks ridiculously fair… and is also ridiculously easy to do.
Keep, Hide, and Giveaway – A knockout triple prediction card effect based on a fantastic Jay Sankey plot.”
Overall, I am very impressed with this project. I easily recommend this to any beginner, novice or intermediate card trickster. You will no doubt pull several of these tricks off of the DVD and out them directly into your repertoire whether you are a hobbyist or performer. My reactions to these tricks have been fantastic. Easy to learn, easy to do, easy to impress your spectators!
Thanks to Big Blind Media for asking me to review this product. This is my honest, unbiased opinion!