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Paul H Inner circle UK South Coast 1135 Posts |
When it comes to knuckle busting gambling sleights, I’m afraid I am a real sucker. The hours spent tracking down the best source for gamblers secrets including pouring over video’s by Steve Forte, Richard Turner and Ed Marlo have certainly contributed to quite a few extra grey hairs. I have spent AGES practicing seconds, centers and bottoms along with free drop riffle stacking and riffle culling. One thing common to many of these manuscripts, books and video demo’s is the cursory way they describe and show the false deal technique. There are exceptions such as Ed Marlo’s Seconds, Centers and Bottoms and Gene Maze’s The Art of Bottom Dealing’, but the video’s and DVD’s are often demonstration only.
So I was greatly surprised and delighted when I chanced upon the CD series published by Ian Kendall. His B***ard Hard Moves concentrate on teaching not just the sleights per se but all the little wrinkles and touches that go to make the moves easier and smoother to execute. His latest offering is groundbreaking in this respect. It is a new instructional CD called ‘Tops, Seconds and Bottoms’. Essentially Ian is tipping his method for performing these deals from the same grip. My problem to date has been that my modified Gene Maze bottom deal and Ed Marlo’s excellent No Touch Theory Second Deal, have to be performed from different grips. Ian’s solution to this is elegant, practical and accessible. The meat of the CD is divided into 9 lessons. The first lesson sets the scene with Ian giving a polished demonstration of the deals, the ‘end product’ as it were. The next sections include an introduction to the work, the method for dealing tops, and parts one and two on dealing seconds. This is followed by a great ‘interval’ item in which Ian demonstrates and teaches the Cannibal Cards by Roy Walton. A lovely trick, its easy to do, very mystifying and entertaining AND it provides an accessible way of practising the second deal. Then it is onto the bottom deal lessons part one and two. Finally, Ian ends with a chapter on tips about how to practice the deals both separately and in combination. Ian’s style is relaxed, informal and engaging. He has a dry self effacing sense of humour which I like and believe me, when practising these deals, you need all the humour you can muster. What is impressive is Ian’s attention to detail. The grip, the pressure, the proper hand positions, the ‘shade’ the best way to take the card including which part of the finger to use for the most effective take etc are all included. At one point I thought he might miss a trick or two omitting some vital tip such as beginning bottom deal practise with half a deck or missing the importance of the rhythm of the deal. Boy was I wrong! Its all there including a file containing recorded metronome times to used with an MPEG 3 player if you do not have access to a stand alone metronome. If, like me, you are into false deals and want to acquire a first class natural deceptive way of dealing tops, seconds and bottoms from the same grip, then this CD is a must. I can’t recommend it highly enough. If I have peaked you interest, then head on over to Ian’s site below. I only wish I had started out with this CD, it would have definitely cut down on a few of those pesky grey hairs. http://www.virtualmagicshow.com/index.htm Regards, Paul H |
IanKendall Special user Edinburgh 571 Posts |
Wow! Thanks Paul.
Just for information's sake (and I hope this will not be deleted by the mods) the correct page to go to is http://www.virtualmagicshow.com/deals - there is no way to get to the Stuff pages from the link above. Take care, Ian |
Jonathan P. Inner circle Belgium 1484 Posts |
Hi, I tried to look at the videos on the site, but my computer seems to be in a bad mood. So, just one question: are the seconds "push-offs" or "strikes"?
Thanks for the info, Jonathan. |
IanKendall Special user Edinburgh 571 Posts |
The Seconds and Bottoms are both strikes, from a normal mechanic's grip. There is no extra movement on the bottom deal (such as push outs) but I do discuss a small buckle technique for dealing with sticky decks.
What problems are you having with the videos? Take care, Ian |
Jonathan P. Inner circle Belgium 1484 Posts |
The problem I have with the video is probably due to some disturbance of my Windows OS. Windows media videos and some (but why those ones?) Real videos just block my system when launching. I just have to restart the system.
Well... Maybe it is not the right place to talk about that Anyway, thanks a lot for the answer. Jonathan. |
Alniner Loyal user Burlington, ON, Canada 254 Posts |
I just picked up Ians disc. Great teacher!! I was doing a bottom from the straddle grip, now that I've seen the disc I'm trying to change that(I'll let you know in about 3 months how that's working for me). Thanks Ian for screwing up the work that I've already put into my bottoms!!!(j/k).
Time for me to really work on my seconds, I never had a good understanding of seconds until I watched this disc. I'm completely re-working my deal now.
Skål
-- Alan |
Jaybs Special user 560 Posts |
Lol. I know how you feel Alan. I was doing my bottoms and seconds from the Master Grip and I had to rework everything after purchasing Ian's CD. However, in the end, I must say, it was all worth it. It took a couple of months to get adjusted to Ian's technique, but I found his grip and take to be much better! Put the work into the re-learning process, and you'll be happy you did in the end!
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CardShark2004 Regular user 153 Posts |
How can people from the states order this?
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IanKendall Special user Edinburgh 571 Posts |
You can go to http://www.virtualmagicshow.com/shop and follow the links. Postage is included, so you pay only 12 pounds.
Alternatively, you can join the virtual session, which has the full CD for TSB and a bunch of other stuff. There are some reviews of the sessions in the Downloads reviews section. Take care, Ian |
natfxf New user 6 Posts |
Dcsd
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natfxf New user 6 Posts |
Dear Mr Kendall,
Your CD is certainly the best thing to learn the second deal. Some books are also very good: - Simon LOVELL's "Second to none" describes very precisely many deals, but the grip is a bit harder. - Roberto GIOBBI's "Card College" also explains very well the second deal, in natural grip. With this book and your CD, we know all the details to make nice second deals as easily as possible. Other books or DVD does not give enough details, even they are done by excellent magicians. I am interested to send you this mail, not only to tell you my nice opinion on your CD, but also to ask you a question about the only difficulty I met with your description of the bottom deal. Certainly, you explain the bottom deal as precisely as the second deal, except for one thing: the take of the bottom card by the right hand. Of course, your method is easier than the best ones I saw: Gene MAZE (in his excellent "The art of bottom dealing"), or Roberto GIOBBI ("Card College") and Simon LOVELL ("Bottoms up") which needs to prepare the bottom card by buckling it. I can also mention many DVD on the subject, done by great magiciens (FORTE, ACKERMANN, TURNER,...), but they contains no or not enough explanations.That's why I actually prefere the straddle grip, and I am now talking to the other magicians of the Magic Café: I should be interested to know in which books or DVD there is more informations on the bottom deal with a straddle grip. But I should be even more interested to have an answer by Mr KENDALL: could you explain more precisely what is doing the left hand when the right hand is approaching and taking the bottom card. Because, on the DVD, there is just one second of explanation, and the take is quite impossible, the way you explain it. We see your first right finger moving (why?), but the way the deck is held, during the bottom card is moving under the deck, is not clear: when the bottom card is moving under the deck, the second, third and fourth fingers are not holding the deck. So, at this moment, if it is held by the thumb and the first finger, it is impossible to take out the bottom card without taking many cards of the bottom of the deck... I am sure you will be able to give us nice explanations, with the same quality of the other ones in your excellent CD! |
Craig Kyle Regular user 197 Posts |
I havent got it but I may pick it up. He is a charming man who always has time to help others at blackpoo
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IanKendall Special user Edinburgh 571 Posts |
Hi Nat,
Thanks for the comments. The take for the bottom will take some effort, but it is a lot easier than it looks! Can you drop me an email to m@gician.info as well, and I'll send you a more detailed explanation of the take. There are a number of things you can do to avoid taking multiple cards; your solution will probably be a mixture of all of them Take care, Ian |
tablehand magic New user 25 Posts |
Ian kendall is really tall
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goochman New user 6 Posts |
I picked up The Expert at the Card Table by Erdnase but it's difficult to follow and I've heard from someone that the mechanic's grip is better than the Erdnase grip. What grip does Ian use? His DVD sounds good. Does it include blind shuffles and cuts and stocking and culling or just the deals? If not, does Ian have any other DVDs with these subjects?
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IanKendall Special user Edinburgh 571 Posts |
The grip I use is the standard Mechanic's grip for seconds and bottoms. The VCD covers dealing tops, seconds and bottoms (hence the title...) and Roy Walton's Cannibal Cards, an excellent routine for practicing second deals. I don't cover any shuffling or stacking on the VCD. You can read more, or see a demo at http://www.virtualmagicshow.com/shop
Take care, Ian |
goochman New user 6 Posts |
I recently became interested in card sleights and picked up Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. It's difficult to read and I had a tough time with much of the instruction. I heard about Ian Kendall's Tops, Seconds and Bottoms and bought the DVD. Ian is awesome. He expains in detail how to deal tops, seconds and bottoms very clearly. After one day of practicing Ian's instructions, I'm much further along than I was after two weeks of practicing what I read in Erdnase's book. I recently ordered Ian's *** Hard Moves DVD and can't wait to get it. If you're at all interested in card sleights (and I'm sure his coin magic, juggling...) buy Ian's DVDs. It's money well spent.
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