Michael Skinner's Ultimate 3 Card Monte

I've been working on my handling and presentation of Michael Skinner's Ultimate 3 Card Monte and decided to try and write a quick review. My main reason for buying this to begin with is I wanted to try an actual packet trick and I thought this could be an effect to add to a gambling routine. As with other reviews on other sites I'll try not to tip the method. Your £10-ish gets you a set of 3 cards and possibly one of the most in-depth guide books I've seen for a magic trick yet. The cover makes bold claims of there being no slights and the effect can be learnt in an evening. Whilst no classic slights may be required it does involve a lot of handling. As for learning in an evening? Frankly it depends on the person and the evening. I tried cracking this over two evening and failed miserably, then picked it up one morning and it just worked beautifully. In other words DO NOT leave learning this until the night before you need it. And also if you fail to crack it immediately, just keep going on. I believe this effect is worth the effort. The handling is described in GREAT detail. Pictures are included but these are more of a double check as the text really explains everything, such as where your thumb should be in relation to your fingers etc. The over all result is a double edge sword as you are 4 pages in before doing anything other than show what the cards are! This may seem daunting but it gives you a really deep understanding of what's going on and so after repeating the trick whilst reading the instructions after a few times you'll find you're just skimming the pages before leaving the instructions to one side all together. One thing I like very much about this version is the very informative and detailed booklet. Not only does it go into the handling of the trick but also the ethos, explaining WHY you shuffle here and there about how and why you use misdirection and also a few different stories that have been used in the past in conjunction with this effect, thus helping you build you're own individual approach to a classic of magic.

There hopefully that will help some poor lost goggling soul out there. I'm not intending on moving away from my normal tricks and effects using a regular (as I call it VANILLA) deck of cards. By the way should any future historian of magic is reading this I'm claiming the term Vanilla to mean a plain regular ungaffed deck of cards. I've been using it for a few years and I think it describes a regular deck very well. But ego aside, I love being able to use a regular deck. Packet tricks though seem to be a nice augmentation to a routine so I will be selecting a few over the next few months to incorporate to my routine.

FREEDOM!
Finally have time to myself. The last month has been HECTIC. Christmas involved much driving and sewing of presents. New year was taken up by sewing, I had to make over 25 costumes for the Wivenhoe Panto. This left very little time for magi which made me come to a realisation. I need to move it up my list of priorities. I REALLY want to make a living through performing, and this I have to treat magi with the same level of importance as sewing. The card handling practise has retuned (in the last 3 weeks I haven't had time to watch television apart from oddly enough the weekly magic show on BBC and Penn and Tellers special one off show). I am getting even more happy with my basic card control and handling. I personally haven't been fussed with fancy flourishes but have decided i really should learn a few. Not so much to perform with but just to really get my hands comfortable with the cards and to give me a little more grace. All this time i HAVE been performing a few tricks. The WEE WEE Mentalist may not be all that I love in card magic HOWEVER people love it, and I do mean love it. This is one of the times when I need to think long and hard, should I perform tricks for me, or for them. I think at this early stage I need to respond to what people like and work on tricks that people enjoy provided I don't actually hate them. I find we wee mentalist cute and fun, just not serous (as Derren Brown would say 'Rich resonant magic') . I'll look at more visual transformations in the coming weeks and see if I can adapt the presentation to work with my preferred style. If I can't I wont discard them, i'll just create a few different magical acts to my repertoire, leaving me to work on effects that move me personally and to learn to move others in the same way, BUT still perform some effects beloved by audiences that pay the bills.