Mine is ordered and I got an email stating it will go out first of next week. Looking forward to this book to keep me busy for a while. This is one of my favorite plots in card magic. Learned the Lee Asher effect from his 5 card stud VHS tape years ago. Cant wait to see all the other methods out there.

I would pick this up but twenty three of the Queens English pounds for shipping is a little to rich for my blood, and then it will probably have another £18 import duty on top of that. Oh well, if it ever becomes available through UK dealers I'll grab a copy.

Wow, it arrived today (not next week) and I have already read through about a third of it (and that is a lot considering the massive size of this book). This book is awesome. Very easy to read and well structured. I can't wait to work out a couple of these routines and hit the "Bar Crowd". There are enough routines in this book that you could "Do that again" all night without repeating the exact same effect and getting called out.

Thank you for your support. Enjoy the book. I'm about a third of the way through my next book, "The Bammo Flim-Flam CONglomeration." It will be of a similar size and quality.

If you're at Magic Live, speak with David Ben and Julie Ing at the Potter & Potter booth. Copies of the book is for sale there.

Geno Munari, who runs Houdini Magic in Las Vegas, sent me this email:

Your book is really great. I venture to say it will go down in history as one of the top ten. I really mean it for various reasons.
1. All usable material
2. Documented to the "hilt"
3. Good gambling theme.
—Geno Munari

Right now I’m working on my new book, The Bammo Flim-Flam CONglomeration. This will be a greatly expanded compilation of all of my Flim-Flam columns, along with a Scamdex to allow you to pick the perfect scam to use at the bar down the road from the auto plant.

Those of you who have The Bammo Ten Card Deal Dossier, will find many things of interest. One of them, I have included below in a shorter version for this post.

TEN CARD DEB-AC-LE

Based on IF THREE STRIKES, YOU’RE OUT created By Robin Dawes

THE GAME

You use a Ten Card deal set: AC, AD, AH, JD, JH, JC, 6S, 6D, 6H, 9H.

The Mark mixes the ten cards and deals them out into two face-down rows.

You explain that the Mark can turn the cards face up in any order he pleases:

1. If he turns up the black Ace, the AC, he loses.

2. If he turns up the red Aces, AD, AH (in any order) BEFORE he turns up the AC, he wins.

THE PITCH

You tell the Mark he has only 1 chance in 10 of hitting the AC and losing. He has a tremendous advantage, but even so, you’re willing to bet even money on the outcome (he bets a buck, if he wins, he gets his buck back, along with one of yours).

THE SCAM

In fact, the Mark is going to lose two-thirds of the time and this counterintuitive reality, combined with the even-money payoff, is going to mean big money for you. But how come the intuitive odds (that is, the ones that just feel so right) are so far from the true odds?

The answer lies, first, in psychological predispositions (no space to explain here—see the new book) and, second, in two elements of the game that, though they appear to be affective, are nothing more than misdirective.

WINDOW DRESSING

First, and most important: it doesn’t matter how many cards you use.

You can include the three Aces in ten or ten thousand cards, it doesn’t affect the odds at all. The extra cards have no effect other than to delay the discovery of the Aces. Look at the rules of the game again:

1. If the Mark turns up the AC, he loses.

2. If he turns up the red Aces, in any order, before he turns up the AC, he wins.

Consider a simpler version of this game using the Aces and a single court card.

If the single court card is the first card turned over, it has absolutely no effect on the outcome of the game: the Mark has neither won nor lost.

All the court card has done is delay the turnover of the next card. Only when an Ace is turned over does the game advance (or end).

Similarly, if the court card is the second card turned over, the game is not advanced nor ended and the odds remain the same. And this doesn’t change whether you have one court card or seven million (though more dummy cards means it takes longer to play the game).

The true game being played here is essentially this: you have three Aces, one black and two red. The Mark can mix the three cards up and arrange them in any order.

If the particular order shows an AC, before a red Ace, he loses.

If a red Ace (in any order) coms up before the AC, he wins.

Looked at this way, there are only six arrangements possible:

1st card turned over AD AD AH AH AC AC
2nd card turned over AH AC AD AC (AD) (AH)
3rd card turned over (AC) (AH) (AC) (AD) (AH) (AD)
Mark Wins or Loses: Win Lose Win Lose Lose Lose

The cards in brackets are not turned over because the Mark has already won or lost—but it is necessary in determining the true odds to include them in the calculation.

The other element of this game that seems to affect the odds, but doesn’t, is the Mark’s right to turn over the cards in any order. As cards are revealed this seems to influence the odds applicable to the rest of the game - but it doesn’t, it’s just so much irrelevant randomness.

ADDING THE BIG AND THE BIGGER LIE

An even sneakier way of stating the false odds is to say:

“On the first card, the odds are 9 to 1 that I won’t win. On the second card, they are 8 to 1 that I won’t win.”

Here you’re focusing on the first rule: if the Mark turns over the AC, he loses; and; ignoring the second rule, if he turns over two red Aces, before the AC, he wins.

Going for broke, you add the bigger lie:

“So, if you add all those together, the odds that I won’t win are pretty substantial—and a loss for me is a win for you.”

Adding the odds together like this is completely wrong, however, according to scientific research (see the new book, below), given a choice between adding the probability of events (which results in a higher probability) and multiplying the probability of events (which results in a lower probability), Marks, like rabbits, have a tendency to add rather than multiply.

This is gold, Bob. Thank you. I can't wait for your next book!

Mike

I'll be at the H&R Magic Books booth at Geniicon signing books, even ones I haven't written.

Anyone who has purchased the book can get an updated insert for free. Just email Suley at info@magicana.com to get a pdf.

Nice addition, Thanks. One can always use a good stage effect.

Is Ricky, page 318 on YouTube anyone know. Purchased the dossier, absolutely great.

I found a great offer on an awesome companion book recently (if you want to keep up a pretty strong "poker or gambling themed show". Vanishing Inc recently had a "found an extra box sale" of a great compilation book called "Hold'Em Magic" by Tom Frame (with many "top name" contributors, including Bob Farmer). They also had an equally impressive sale on a book called "Finding The Center" by Antonio Zuccaro. (A book more about advanced sleight - the center deal, than a "magic book") if you happened to be on their mailing list at the right time... This was "an offer you couldn't refuse". Although I believe each of them at regular price hold up and are well worth it for a gambling demonstrator to add to his arsenal.

On the subject of the 10 Card Deal, anyone other than me using the excellent 2-4-2 ten card deal that does not use a Jonah card?